About six months ago I fell in love with pistachios.
I was eating so many that my thumb got a blister on it from shelling so many.
Note to self, buy the unshelled. But that seems like cheating.
Unless you dump the pistachios onto melted dark chocolate along with caramels, Oreos, and sea salt.
I love making bark because it’s fast, easy, foolproof, and you can use up your odds and ends.
Anything from the last bits in a bag of pretzels to the remnants of the butterscotch chips to random Easter candy you found stashed away. Everything tastes better smorgasboard-style on top of bark.
For the bark I used lightly salted pistachios, diced caramels, Oreos, and a sprinkling of sea salt for a salty-and-sweet effect.
I love salty-and-sweet treats and I find that with dark chocolate, a pinch of salt goes a long way to enhance and round out the flavor.
The chocolate is Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Pound Plus Bar. It melts so smoothly, evenly, and it’s dark enough without being bitter or too intense. It makes for a smooth, mellow, bark-eating experience. Use your favorite chocolate from uber dark to milk.
The bark is a texture lover’s dream. The smooth, rich chocolate that melts in your mouth contrasted with the slightly salty pistachios and crunchy Oreos.
The caramels are buttery, creamy, and chewy. There are so many flavor and texture combinations in every bite and the more you eat, the more you want.
I gave some of the bark away because it was far too dangerous to keep in my house.
It makes great hostess gifts or gifts for friends, teachers, and neighbors. If you can manage to part with some or don’t eat it all first.
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Pistachio, Salted Caramel, and Oreo Dark Chocolate Bark
Ingredients
- 16 ounces dark chocolate, 1 pound; I used TJ’s Dark Chocolate Pound Plus Barabout 20 small caramel squares, unwrapped and diced small (if you can find salted caramels I recommend them, but regular may be used)6 to 8 Oreo cookies, roughly chopped about 3/4 cup shelled, lightly salted pistachios (unsalted may be substituted)
- generous pinch of sea salt for sprinkling, optional and to taste
Instructions
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper; set aside. Before beginning to melt the chocolate, have all the ingredients chopped, prepped, and ready to go so that they’re ready to be added while the chocolate is hot and melty.
- Coarsely chop the chocolate or break into chunks to encourage smooth melting. Place chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high power to melt, about 2 to 3 minutes, stopping every 15 seconds to check and stir until it can be stirred smooth. Be careful not to scorch it; or use a double boiler.
- Pour melted chocolate onto parchment and with a spatula or offset knife, smooth into a large rectangle, about 10×15-inches, and about 1/8-inch thick; just eyeball. Reserve 1 to 2 tablespoons in the bottom of the bowl for final chocolate drizzle; set aside.
- Evenly sprinkle with caramels, Oreos, pistachios, and sea salt to taste.
- Evenly drizzle with reserved 1 to 2 tablespoons chocolate; optional but helps ‘glue’ the toppings down and adds visual appeal.
- Allow chocolate to set up for at least 3 hours at room temp, or in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
- After chocolate has set, break into pieces or chop with a knife. Bark will keep airtight at room temp for many weeks and in the fridge or freezer for many months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Where do you get your pistachios? The ones I get from the grocery are more brown than green, yours looks so pistachio green! Looks yummy!!!
Trader Joe’s!
You fell in love with pistachios about the time I fell in love with salted
caramel. I suspect we both have had a long long long love affair with chocolate.
This is SOOOOOOOOOO decadent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was so good and yes, long affair with chocolate, for sure :)
Ohmygosh this bark looks like heaven. But really, you had me at pistachios.
Thanks, Denise! Glad you’re a fan of them, too!
just saw your comment at my blog.
that’s wild that you have a white chocolate brownie too.
hmm
same recipe? or
Well I’ve got these white chocolate and lime bars https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/04/coconut-lime-white-chocolate-bars.html
And then I have an upcoming recipe that’s a white choc and citrus bar as well. Not the same recipe as yours though! I drummed it up in my own head and it’s summery so was waiting another week or so to post it :)
Yummo! My favorite ingredients are the pistachios and caramels. Pistacios can be such a pain to shell!
Yes the sure can be!
Oooooooh this bark is so beautiful, Averie! I love everything you used (what a fantastic way to clean out the pantry) and the green of the pistachios just pops against the chocolate. I hope your fingers have recovered from the blisters ;) I’m sure it was worth it to eat this delicious bark.
LOL doing much better and I cheated and used shelled for the bark. Time and finger saver :)
Maybe I’m crazy, but I swear they taste better if you shell them yourself (blisters and all). GREG
I TOTALLY AGREE, Greg! Yes, they do!
IN LOVE WITH THIS!! Can’t wait to try!
I’ve been in love with pistachios for years and buy bags of it during every shopping trip. I love that you incorporated it this way!
Oh MAN. My mom makes a pistachio cranberry bark every year at Christmas, and this looks so much like it, just even more desserty. Amazing! Maybe we should try this for Christmas this year as well!
I love the idea of pistachio cranberry. The crunchy/chewy contrast AND the color contrast, must be just perfect around Xmas!
Yes, please! I need to make it ASAP! Pinned!
Thanks for pinning, Anna!
Wow, this bark has all my fav ingredients!!
Delicious! Averie your recipes are 100% my taste!
Thanks, Ilona!
Yes to all things pistachio! This is brill.
I made a gf pistachio almond cake a few weeks ago and it took one hour to shell the pistachios! Hopefully all that “work” made up for all the slices I enjoyed. :D
LOL and I cheated and bought shelled for this bark because I just didn’t have the time or thumb endurance :)
This bark looks amazing! I can’t wait for some family get together as an excuse to make this. If I made it for myself, it’d be gone before you could say “boo”.
I can relate!
This bark would just not be safe around me. I make it a point to eat pistachios every day. Have you tried the salt/pepper kind? Heaven.
And having pistachios in chocolate with Oreos and caramel…wow.
I try NOT to eat them every day…LOL. It’s way too easy for me to seriously eat like 3/4 cup in no time. So a few times a week, I make up for all the days I didn’t eat them in one sitting :) And yes most any flavor, so good!