Pistachio Bark

Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Feliz Navidad, Mele Kalikimaka, Happy Hanukkah or Happy December 25th. Regardless of your religious beliefs, practices, or what have you - Tis the Season to be baking (let's face it, winter - to me at least - means baking. Whether it's Christmas or not). This is one of my favourite recipes, and I only ever make it at Christmas. I discovered it in a Hershey cookbook years ago and tweaked it to become my own. It's incredibly sweet, soft, chewy, and a little bit salty (if you happen to buy salted nuts).

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of meeting the lovely Lauren of Celiacteen.com. We made delicious (although somewhat floppy!) date-filled pinwheel cookies and this bark. Both were a great success :)

So from my kitchen to yours, have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

Ingredients:
2 cups milk chocolate chips (I use half white/milk chocolate chips)
1 1/2 cup Pistachios (or any other nut/combination of nuts)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup (or whatever you have on hand! It all turns out the same!)

Directions:
1. Line a 9x9 pan with tin foil. Dump in the chocolate chips to form an even layer on the bottom of the pan.
2. In a heavy skillet on medium-high heat, combine butter, sugar, corn syrup and nuts and continuously stir until the mixture becomes bubbly and brown. You'll know it's done when it has a beautiful, light caramel color and the mixture sticks together when you stir it.
3. Immediately pour the caramel on top of the chocolate chips in an even layer, and spread to make sure all the chocolate chips are covered (the heat of the caramel will melt the chocolate).
4. Put it in the fridge and let it sit until it hardens.
5. Once the bar has hardened completely, let it sit on the counter for a few minutes and peel off the tin foil. Break or cut the bar into whatever size you would like!

This bark is great on the counter or in the freezer (just be sure to let it sit out for a few minutes!)