I Tried the Viral 3-Ingredient “Strawberry Peanut Butter Bark” and It’s What I’m Making For Valentine’s Day

TikTok has an interesting obsession with making bark — yogurt bark with berries, date bark with chocolate, salty-sweet bark made with crackers and caramel coating. And now, it seems, a new three-ingredient bark has sparked interest for TikTok foodies. Made by creator @faithsfresh, this strawberry peanut butter chocolate bark looks seemingly easy to make, and according to Faith, is simply “delicious.” 

I admit, I haven’t had a bark recipe that I’ve been dying to try yet, but this strawberry peanut butter chocolate bark intrigued me. With all of the ingredients I personally love, I couldn’t help but wonder if it really is that delicious, and if it’s just as easy as TikTok makes it out to be. So I grabbed some fresh strawberries, crunchy peanut butter, and a bag of chocolate chips and decided to give this viral recipe a try.

Watch the video: Strawberry Peanut Butter Chocolate Bark

Line a small cutting board or baking sheet with wax paper.

Remove the tops of the strawberries with your hands. (Do not husk them! This will ruin the effect.) Slice the strawberries lengthwise, giving you thick slices for the bottom of the bark.

Place a row of strawberry slices down on the wax paper. When you go to place down your next row, have the slices face the opposite direction so the ends can fit nicely within the grooves of the first row. Repeat this step three or four times, depending on how many strawberry slices you have, until you have an even square or rectangle of slices on your paper.

Using a loose natural peanut butter (creamy or crunchy will work), spread a thick layer of peanut butter onto the strawberries. Let some of the strawberries stick out on the ends for the presentation!

In a small saucepan, melt a 10-ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-low heat. Stir constantly to make sure none of the chocolate sticks at the bottom and starts to cook; you want it to stay smooth! As soon as the chocolate is fully melted, remove it from the heat. This should take 2-3 minutes. 

Spread the melted chocolate on top of the peanut butter layer of the bark. Once the chocolate is spread evenly, sprinkle the top with coarse sea salt.

Pop the cutting board with the bark into the freezer for 2 hours or more. Once frozen, slice your bark in whatever size or shape pieces your heart desires! Then devour.

Assembling this bark was surprisingly much easier than I expected. Spreading peanut butter and melted chocolate on slices of strawberries seemed like it would not go well, and yet, the process went rather smoothly. I’m kind of shocked I’ve never tried this before, to be honest.

Freezing the bark took time and patience. At first I froze the bark for 30 minutes, thinking it would be enough, but sadly it wasn’t. The strawberries were not firm enough to create that bark-like shape, which meant it needed more time in the freezer. Two hours seemed to be enough, but honestly, I also think letting it sit overnight would be your best bet. 

Once it was time to taste, I gave the bark 10-15 minutes on the cutting board before slicing and tasting it. That way it was easier to break apart and chew; no need to chip a tooth! However, I wouldn’t leave the bark out for long — it does melt pretty quickly. So once you have your slices, pop them in an air-tight container and put them back in the freezer. Then just take one out when you’re ready for a tasty snack.

As for the taste, I loved it. Strawberries, peanut butter, and chocolate are some of my favorite foods in the world, so having it all in one really was a special treat. My only edit is I would go lighter with the flaky salt on top, or maybe not include it at all. The salty peanut butter has enough where it doesn’t really need more. Unless you love a super salty-sweet dessert, of course.

Will I make this again? Absolutely. To quote the TikToker, it is quite literally “delicious.”

Don’t use the ends of the strawberries: If you want the sliced strawberries to lay evenly at the bottom of the bark, I recommend slicing off the rounded ends. Even if it’s just a sliver of the end, this will ensure that your strawberry slices create an even bottom, which will make spreading easier later.

Freeze the bark for 5 minutes before adding the chocolate: While the original TikTok video simply has you spreading the melted chocolate on top after layering the peanut butter, I recommend freezing the bark for five minutes before this step. This allows for the peanut butter to firm up a bit so it makes for easier spreading when you add the chocolate. Especially if you’re using a very loose natural peanut butter!

Use different kinds of chocolate: While I used semi-sweet chocolate chips for my bark, you could play around with the type of chocolate you want on top. Prefer milk chocolate? How about extra dark chocolate, or white chocolate? Or why not swirl in a mix of both? The possibilities are endless here!

Add extra toppings: To stay true to this recipe, I only sprinkled the tops with coarse sea salt. However, feel free to add more toppings to your heart’s content! Some great ideas include nuts, raisins, cranberries, goji berries, and dried coconut.

Watch the video: Strawberry Peanut Butter Chocolate Bark

This article originally published on The Kitchn. See it there: I Tried the Viral 3-Ingredient “Strawberry Peanut Butter Bark” and It’s How I’m Treating Myself All January