Warming Mexican hot chocolate bark

By Giselle Wedemire

I received a copy of The New Chicago Diner Cookbook this past Christmas and it is a joy to behold! There are so many recipes I want to make from it that my copy is practically stuffed to the brim with bookmarks.

One of the recipes that first caught my eye (other than the pasta carbonara, and the chocolate mousse cake, and the ginger coconut tofu bites, and the maple whipped cream and and and...) was the Mexican hot chocolate bark. I love spicy and sweet flavour combos and Mexican hot chocolate anything is my JAM, so I was stoked to get started on this recipe. 

I waited until it was the perfect night for concocting a chocolatey treat that's spiked with hits of heat, and finally it came. On an extremely chilly and wintry Tuesday night, Mr. Picky Bitch was out with friends and I was left to indulge in some creature comforts. Snuggled up in an oversized hoodie with a kitty on my lap and a few episodes of Black-ish to catch up on, I was all set. It was time to get cracking on some sweet and spicy chocolate bark to help punch winter in the face.

Picky Bitchez-style Mexican hot chocolate bark is fully equipped with the heat and spices
some feel are required to punch Old Man Winter in the face. 

Except...I realized I didn't have like half of the ingredients required for the Chicago Diner's version of Mexican hot chocolate bark: I had finished the maple syrup on the weekend; I'd never even seen whole cayenne peppers for sale in Calgary, much less had them in my pantry, ready to puree; and I only had chocolate chips, as opposed to the required unsweetened chocolate. (This is why you always plan ahead with recipes, people! Learn from my mistakes!)

Determined as ever to get some form of spiced chocolate in my tummy before parking myself in front of the TV for an hour, I set out about making my own recipe for Mexican hot chocolate bark, using ingredients I actually had on hand. It turned out to be a HUGE success and I had to forcibly stop myself from eating more. 

If you like some spice mixed into your chocolate, this will be a hit; but if you're like my lame-o siblings, this will be a definite swing and a miss. To each their own! This recipe has a small-to-medium yield (about 10 to 15 good-sized pieces, in total), which is pretty low compared to a lot of chocolate bark recipes I've tried out. If that's a deal breaker, double the recipe and you'll be fine.

What you'll need:
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like the accidentally vegan ones from Walmart because they taste good and are cheap, but you can use whatever semi-sweet dairy-free chocolate chips you'd like)
1/2 to 3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (start out with the 1/2 tsp. and work your way up if you need more spice)
1/2 to 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. coarse/rock salt
1/8 cup pepitas

What you'll need to do:

• Grab a cookie sheet and line it with parchment paper. Set aside.
• If you have a double boiler, grab it and get to work with melting your chocolate. If you're like me and haven't quite reached peak baller status, you can opt for stacking a small saucepan on top of a slightly larger saucepan that's filled with about an inch or two of water.
• Add your chocolate to your (legit or makeshift) double boiler and cook over medium heat. Using a rubber spatula, gently push around the chocolate so it gets evenly heated. Once the chocolate starts to melt, stir constantly to make sure no one area gets too much heat. Continue to do this until all of your chocolate is completely melted.
• Turn off the heat, and stir in the cayenne pepper and cinnamon. Mix well and then spread the mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet. Use your spatula to smooth the chocolate out so that it's relatively thin. (You want it to be able to cool uniformly and break easily once all is said and done.)
• Sprinkle the pepitas on top of the chocolate and use your finger (or spatula) to gently press them down so they won't fall off when you bite into the bark.
• Sprinkle with coarse salt. At this point, your bark should look like this:

• Let cool for 40 minutes. (This can either be done in your fridge, if you have room, or outside in the bleak winter winds. Let Mother Nature work for you this time around!)
• Once cooled, break the solid mass of bark into small pieces and enjoy!

What do you think of spicy and sweet combos? Are you enjoying the latest season of Black-ish as much as I am? And have you seen any whole cayenne peppers for sale in Calgary? Let me know by commenting below, or by tweeting at @PickyBitchez.