Mesmerizing swirls of matcha and creamy white chocolate on a base of dark chocolate and puffed quinoa. This recipe makes one quarter sheet pan worth of bark, but feel free to scale it up or down.
Yield: one 9x12-inch piece (about 12 servings)
Total Time: 45 minutesminutes
Ingredients
3tablespoons/ 45gpuffed quinoa or tiny puffed rice
8oz/ 226gdark chocolate, finely chopped
12oz/ 340ggood quality white chocolate, finely chopped
1teaspoon/ 4gmatcha powder, sifted
1 to 2teaspoons/ 2gcocoa butter, optional
sprinkles or other decorations for topping, optional
Instructions
Prepare a quarter sheet pan or 9-by-13-inch baking pan by lining with parchment. I recommend lightly buttering the pan, then adding your parchment (the butter will help the parchment stick so it doesn't move around when you spread in the chocolate... you don't need to butter the parchment itself though). Sprinkle puffed quinoa in an even layer in bottom of pan.
In a microwave, double boiler, or chocolate melter, gently melt 3/4 of dark chocolate. If you want, you can add a teaspoon or two of cocoa butter to make the melted chocolate more fluid. Use very gentle heat here, you don't want the chocolate to overheat or it will lose its temper. Once it is fully melted, remove from heat and add remaining chocolate. Continue to gently stir until fully melted and temperature has lowered to about 88-90 degrees (this will probably take at least 15 minutes or so, if it melts quicker than that it's probably too hot).
Pour melted chocolate over puffed quinoa in prepared pan; gently spread into an even layer (it will pick up some of the quinoa, but just do your best). Firmly tap the pan a few times on the countertop to get rid of any air bubbles. Set aside at cool room temperature until fully set, about 15 to 20 minutes. (If your chocolate has not been tempered, you may need to refrigerate it to get it to set. But let it come back to room temp before adding the second layer otherwise the white chocolate will cool before you have a chance to swirl it).
Melt white chocolate in the same way you did the dark chocolate, by gently melting about 3/4 of it over very very low heat, then remove from heat and stir in the remaining white chocolate until fully melted. This 'seed' method will help the chocolate form a nice snappy finish.
Spoon about one third of melted white chocolate into a bowl. Sift matcha powder over top and stir until evenly combined.
Spread white chocolate on top of dark chocolate layer, spreading it almost to the edges. Dollop blobs of matcha mixture on top. Run a toothpick or skewer through the two kinds of chocolate in a circular motion to form decorative swirls.
Sprinkle evenly with sprinkles or other toppings as desired. Let sit uncovered at cool room temperature until set, about 1 to 2 hours. Break or cut into serving size pieces. Store at room temperature, or if your chocolate isn't fully tempered, keep refrigerated to keep the bark firm.