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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Oh wow this looks absolutely incredible! I totes need to try this! It’s comforting how you say that bark is foolproof…I have a tendency of being a complete idiot in the kitchen and always manage to screw something up somehow haha! But with this it’s kinda as if the more jumbled it is the better the final product will be. Amazing pictures of it too Averie, I love how you always show the full view, cross sections and the sheer variety of yummy stuff included in the recipe via mouth watering pics!
Thanks for noticing my photography angles and all the compliments in all your comments tonight – so appreciated!
Totally love this… salty sweet chocolately combo. I love pistachios too definitely need to mix them in with some sweet dessert action! Pinned
Thanks for pinning, Krista!
Oh boy, if I’m not careful I can easily finish a bag of pistachios all by myself (thumb blisters and all) even though I buy the shelled ones to prevent me from doing just that haha. This bark sounds incredible – it has everything I love and more – pinning :)
Sounds like you can relate with the bag finishing and blisters too boot…at least you understand :) Thanks for the pin!
I have loved pistachios since I was like 7. Totally got it from my parents. I don’t mind shelling them except when I’m baking. It seems like it takes forever just to get half a cup.
Yes it does! For baking, I cheat and use the shelled ones. But for just snacking, I shell them myself as built in portion control since it takes longer to work for them :)
HOLY PISTACHIO!! MUST. HAVE. THIS. NOW! This bark looks so good! i love the way it looks too. I recently discovered how good pistachios were too, you just inspired me to use them more
Thanks, Keisha! If you try this, LMK!
Yes but the shelled ones somehow taste better, worth a few thumb blisters ;-)
Yes they totally do – and I agree :)
just want to complement you on your wonderful blog. your recipes and pictures look so yummy!!! i don’t know how you come up with soooo many ideas everyday!
What a lovely compliment and thanks, Gina! I don’t know how I come up with stuff some days either…ha! But the ideas keep coming!
Dark Chocolate, pretzels, oreos, and salty pistachios? A combo well done!
this bark looks out of this world amazing. I am afraid I would eat the whole thing and not share. Not nice of me but seriously who wants to share this goodness. It looks divine and love the rich caramel against the salty pistachios! genius
MUST. HAVE. THIS. NOW!
Sadly, I just ran out of pistachios. So I guess a trip to the store is order, because this bark looks ah-mazing and I must have it!
This looks delicious!!! I’ll definitely make this recipe some time next week. :D
This bark looks to die for, love the salty-sweet flavors!
I love that you ate pistachios until your fingers blistered. And this bark is just GORGEOUS! Every piece and layer is so beautifully distinct.
Thank you for noticing. It’s the details :) You know how that goes!
You know I loved pistachios too, but haven’t eaten them in months. I’m back to my standard peanut butter, but I’ve gotten really lazy and buy the freshly ground stuff at the coop instead of making my own. So sad. So lazy, but it’s SUMMER!
This is kind of off topic, but you link to your saltine cracker recipe and last week, a friend of mine brought that stuff to FOUR potlucks in a single week! She used mahtzo crackers instead, but same thing. The first time, I resisted, but eventually my willpower was gone and it was…a bad scene. That stuff is truly crack!
Oh I’m so glad to hear that she made it FOUR TIMES. In a week. Omg that is the midwest and the potlucks I remember. Thanks for sharing that story :) And you being back to storebought/freshly ground PB. Hey, it’s the easiest route and no food proc to clean out, right!
Pistachios are my dad’s favorite nut too! I remember while I was growing up, he’d eat a small bowl almost every night while watching baseball or basketball on TV, and he taught me how to pry open those little shells to make me feel grown up. Come to think of it, maybe he just taught me so his fingers wouldn’t hurt from doing it all himself! ;) I’m absolutely loving your latest bark creation! Sweet, salty, chocolaty, caramely, cookie-y (I think I’m making up words at this point)… So many good things. Definitely pinning!!
Thanks for the fun story and the pin!
Oh boy! These look superb! Agree with you on the whole pistachio thing – yum!