Holiday Nut Crunch Bark #GoNutsForNuts

** This shop has been compensated by #CollectiveBias (Collective Bias, Inc.) and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. **

Is this year moving too quickly for anyone else? I cannot believe it is almost the holiday season! It’s probably a safe assumption the rest of the year is going to fly by as well, so I wanted to get a head start on the holidays now. I’ll hold off on the shopping for a few more days, but it’s never too early to try out some recipes, right? I love giving desserts as small gifts during the holiday season, and bark is a fun and simple option! This bark recipe uses one of Planter’s seasonal nut mixes, which can be found in your local Walmart. Some stores have these great Planter’s holiday displays with all of their seasonal mixes, so it’s so easy to #GoNutsForNuts!

I used Planter’s Holiday Nut Crunch for this recipe, but you could also use one of the other seasonal options, such as Planter’s Cocoa Almonds or Winter Spiced Mix. For additional inspiration, check out the Cooking Up Good website. They have recipes, sweepstakes, loyalty programs, coupons and more! What’s not to love? If you’re looking for a new dinner idea or a chance to win some awesome prizes, be sure to check it out!

Planter’s also has a Blippar app to help you find more fun recipes to try using their products. Blippar is an app that has image recognition capabilities and gives you the opportunity to interact with Planter’s brand. You can swipe through Holiday Gift Tips, take a selfie with Mr. Peanut, and browse Planter’s holiday products!

Ingredients:

• 1 bag dark chocolate chips (~10 oz)
• 1 bag milk chocolate chips (~11.5 oz)
• 3/4 cups Planter’s Holiday Nut Crunch mix
• 1/2 cup green chocolate wafers
• 1/4 cup white chocolate wafers

Before beginning, spray a 9×12 inch baking pan with sides with cooking spray. Add parchment paper to the pan, leaving an overhang on each side. (You add the cooking spray to help “stick” the parchment paper to the pan.)

To make the bark, you’ll need a metal bowl that is slightly larger than a small pot. If you have a double boiler, that will work as well.

Add a small amount of water to the pot. Add the bowl on top of the pot, making sure that the water does not touch the bowl. Heat over medium heat, bringing the water to a low boil. Add the dark chocolate chips to the bowl, stirring with a spatula until the chocolate is fully melted and smooth.

Add the dark chocolate to the prepared pan and spread with the spatula to make an even layer.

Add the milk chocolate chips to the metal bowl over the small pot, stirring until melted and smooth.

Pour the milk chocolate chips over the dark chocolate spread and spread evenly on top.

Top with 3/4 cups Planter’s Holiday Nut Crunch.

Using a different metal bowl (or thoroughly cleaning and drying the original metal bowl), melt the green chocolate wafers over the small pot of boiling water.

Dip a fork into the melted green chocolate and drizzle over the nut crunch mix.

Repeat with the white chocolate wafers (after thoroughly cleaning/drying the bowl or using a new metal bowl).

Refrigerate the pan for at least an hour until set. Remove the parchment paper from the pan.

Peel the bark from the parchment paper and break into different sized pieces.

The sweet and salty combo in this bark is a favorite of mine. The mix contains peanuts, almonds, cashews, and chocolate covered peanuts that add some crunch and a little saltiness. The raisins, cranberries and chocolate candy pieces also in the mix add a little more sweetness to the bark as well as a great texture.

To give as a gift, you can wrap a plate of the bark in cellophane with a holiday bow, or just fill a cookie tin with the bark.

The Blippar app has more recipes to choose from to get your culinary juices flowing. Just use the app to identify a Planter’s product, and choose the Holiday Gift Tips for more great gift ideas using Planter’s products! The app can be found in the iTunes and Google Play stores and is a free download.