I take pictures of food a lot....and thank goodness my family puts up with my craziness.  Today was no different, and even involved balancing the above plate of bark on a table, on top of two chairs.  My excuse? That's where the best light is!  Naturally, I ended up knocking everything onto the floor with a huge crash.  Story of my life.

*Nothing/nobody was permanently damaged during the creation of this blog post.

 Moving on to more important things....you must make this bark asap!  It's such a wonderful combo of sweet and salty, and toffee makes it stand out from the average bark found on Christmas platters everywhere.  Not that I don't love any kind of bark...because I do!  All bark is welcome in my life!

Our family loves to bake, and we go a little nuts at Christmas.  Awesome Christmas platters are one of our signature gifts, and these babies were added to our arsenal of treats this year.  My mom is always trying out new things, and she gets all the credit for discovering this winning recipe!  Jordyn and I are so grateful for her enthusiasm and help when it comes to blogging...so, thanks mom!

Toffee Pretzel Bark
adapted from: livelovepasta blog
Yield: 1 sheet of bark

Ingredients:

1 cup Butter

1 cup Brown Sugar

mini pretzels (the crossed ones!) - enough to line an 10x15 baking sheet

2 cups of Chocolate Chips (*or 16 oz of Callebaut chocolate)

sea salt, for sprinkling on top

Directions:

1)  First, line an 10x15 baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with Pam.  Then place pretzels on the sheet in a single layer.

2)  Then, melt 1 cup of butter in a small saucepan on low-medium heat, and add in brown sugar.

3)  Stir sugar and butter until incorporated.  *combining these ingredients at a low temperature helps to keep them from separating!

4)  Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer (NOT a boil), and let it cook for about 3 minutes once bubbling; this will allow the butter and sugar to carmelize.

5)  Pour this mixture over your pretzels, and use a spoon/offset spatula to help spread this layer out.

6)  Bake at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes.  Allow to cool.

7)  Melt your chocolate chips in the microwave (checking and stirring often), or by using a double boiler.  Once melted, pour over the pretzel-caramel layers, and use a spoon/offset spatula to even it out.

8)  Sprinkle with sea salt, and allow the bark to cool in the fridge until completely set.

9)  Once completely cooled and hardened, break the bark into pieces and serve. 

*Store any extras (pfftt...yeah right) in the fridge!

We found that we didn't quite have enough caramel mixture to quite cover our pretzels....but once you bake it in the oven, it evens out!  So just do your best when pouring and spreading, but don't worry about it too much!

After your caramel-pretzel mixture comes out of the oven, you may notice that some of your pretzels have shifted during the baking!  We just used a fork to poke them back down/into place.

Some of you may have noticed my love for anything to do with salted caramel....and this dessert just feeds my addiction so well.  And there's chocolate too!  Chocolate is always welcome in our house.

The only bad thing I can say about this recipe, is that it gets a little stuck in your teeth.  But hey...that's toffee for you!  And it's definitely worth it in the end. Ha!

In other news, it snowed while we made this!  You can't really tell from the picture below....but I promise it did.  I also realize this is the second time I have expressed excitement of snow this week.  Seriously though, it's a rare thing here in the Fraser Valley!

Anywho, this recipe is really great for beginners in the kitchen.  The hardest part about it is sharing it!

 ♥ kelsey