Valentine's Chocolate Bark & Baking Party

I hope you all had a relaxing and fun Super Bowl weekend?  I know I did, I was lucky enough to spend part of it with fellow Bay Area food bloggers baking Valentine's Sugar Cookies and Valentine's Chocolate Bark over at Patty's house.

The last couple of weeks have been rather stressful, we put our house for sale and it's been non-stop showings and trying to keep the place spotless.  Well this baking party must have been just what I needed, because when I returned home I had two offers on the house, one of which we accepted. This is welcome news because it frees me up for the important stuff I've been neglecting, like baking.

The weather in the Bay Area was gorgeous this weekend and the amazing Patty graciously welcomed us into her kitchen. We were joined by Lisa - The Authentic Suburban Gourmet, BonniBella, Baking Barrister, and my daughter joined us too.

We had some amazing appetizers to nibble on.  I brought Blood Orange Jam and Meyer Lemon Bread, Patty made us a delectable Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese Apple Quiche, Lisa delighted us with her Stilton and Walnut Palmiers, Stephanie surprised us with Leek Confit, Goat Cheese and Crostini, Bonni shared Thai Shrimp with us, yum.  Everything was so good; I should have stuffed some in my purse for later.

Looks amazing, huh?  Well then you should have been there partaking in the merriment with us, shouldn't you have.  We didn't just gather there to eat though; we were on a baking mission.  

Patty & Lisa fooling around mixing icing.  

Bonni -Chocolate Pop maker extraodinaire.

Valentine's Chocolate Bark

1 pound dark chocolate - Trader Joe's or whatever good quality chocolate you can find

1 pound milk chocolate - Trader Joe's or whatever good quality chocolate you can find

Assorted sprinkles (the big hearts are chewy red hots)

Melt one pound of chocolate at a time in a heat proof bowl over a pot of barely simmering water.

Let the chocolate cool for a couple of minutes.

Spray a half-sheet baking pan with no-stick spray and pour one kind of the chocolate in the pan drizzling it around.

Melt the second kind of chocolate and pour it in the empty spaces on the pan.  Tap the pan on the counter to fill in the gaps.  

Cover with sprinkles.  Place in the fridge till hard.  Turn the bark out onto a piece of parchment and slam it down to break up.

We divided up the loot and placed it in "Bark Bags", I repeat "Bark Bags", not "Barf Bags" (sorry inside joke).  Again, you should have been there.

Lisa and Bonni helped style the plates for us.  I must say they are both so good at it, I picked up a couple of new tricks myself.  I wanted to pluck a piece of chocolate right off that napkin, but I resisted the temptation. After we finished the bark, we moved on to sugar cookies.  We put on our inner diva decorator hats and created some super cute cookies to take home to our loved ones.  Patty is going to post the cookie recipe for you shortly.

B.B. and her wicked sense of humor, love it!

My Love and her Cookie Love.  Wonder where she gets those mad decorating skills from?

What do you mean you didn't get your invite to this par-tay?  No worries, there will be another one of these baking parties coming up soon.  To get on the super exclusive invite list, you will have to pass a gang group initiation.  You will need to bring an appetizer for the group to analyze, critique and then eat more of, just to be sure our initial impressions were correct.  If you pass that portion of the initiation; we will stick you in a room with no windows, 16 colors of royal icing, 19 kinds of sprinkles and a piece of cardboard and you will have 6 minutes to come up with a masterpiece to present before the group.  Did you think we would start you off with cookies?  You only get those if you make it to part three.

Enjoy,

Gina