Valentine's Day Bark

With Oreo cookies and pretzel twists covered in white chocolate and topped with M&Ms, conversation hearts, and sprinkles, this Valentine's Day Bark will help you show your love this February 14!

(This recipe for Valentine's Day Bark was originally published in February 2009, but was updated with new photos and content in 2021).

'Tis the season for love! And candy... SO much candy. And I wouldn't have it any other way. For some reason, even standard candy like M&Ms is more delicious when it's various shades of red and pink.

Even if you're an anti-Valentine's Day type of person, you can't deny that it's a wonderful time of year for your sweet tooth.

Of course, you can show your loved ones how you feel about them with a box of chocolates or a bag of conversation hearts... But wouldn't it be more special if you made them a Valentine's Day candy gift from scratch?

Enter Valentine's Day Bark. It's basically cookies and pretzels and candy combined with lots of sweet white chocolate and broken into bite-sized pieces. You can use any types of candy for your white chocolate bark, but I'm sharing my favorite combination here.

How to Make Valentine's Day Bark

Making candy bark is super easy and once you make it once, you'll want to make it for every holiday throughout the year.

There are tons of different bark recipes online and you'll find many different processes, but here's my favorite way to do it:

1. Melt white chocolate.

I like to use high-quality white chocolate bars for my bark since it melts best. You can also use white chocolate chips, but just take care when melting them since it's a little tougher to do.

I recommend using a double boiler if you have one. If you don't, you can set a heat-proof bowl tightly over a saucepan of gently simmering water and stir until white chocolate it completely melted.

You can also melt the chocolate in the microwave. I recommend melting it at a low power at intervals and taking it out of the microwave and stirring it frequently.

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle on your "base" while white chocolate is melting.

For the base of this Valentine's Day bark, I used Oreo cookies and pretzel twists. Since this is a white chocolate bark, I liked the idea of having a chocolate cookie crunch. And the pretzels add some more crunch and a light saltiness (which is fabulous with all the other sweetness here!).

3. Drizzle on white chocolate and add candy toppings.

Drizzle white chocolate all over the cookie and pretzel base and use an offset spatula to spread it if needed.

Then sprinkle on your Valentine's Day candy! You can use whatever you want, but I opted for Valentine's Day M&Ms, conversation hearts, and pink and white sprinkles.

A little chocolate, a lot of sweetness, and lots of pretty colors.

4. Let Valentine's Day bark chill.

I recommend putting the bark in the fridge for about 2 hours so the chocolate can harden and you can break your bark up into bite-sized pieces.

I like to use a knife to cut the bark, but you can also use your hands.

Each piece has a little bit of everything on it... Just the way it should be!

You can put the bark in little cellophane bags to gift or add it to your Valentine's Day treat plates.

Or just keep it in your kitchen and snack on it all February long. After all, no matter who else is in your life, you should always be your own #1 Valentine!

Valentine's Day Candy Bark Substitutions

Like I mentioned, there's a lot you can do with this Valentine's Day bark and easy ways to adjust it to everyone's tastes. Here are a few ideas:

• If you don't like white chocolate, you can certainly use milk chocolate or dark chocolate. I like the way the reds and pinks look against the white chocolate, but milk or dark would also be delicious! You could also do a white and dark chocolate swirl or layers!
• If you don't like traditional conversation hearts (I don't blame you), you can use the Sweet Tart version or none at all.
• Use any flavor M&M you want... peanut or peanut butter would also be delicious here, but there are so many varieties available these days!
• If you prefer a more solid bark, you can skip the cookie/pretzel base and simply spread the white chocolate on the parchment paper. Add candy on top and include chopped Oreo and pretzels on top, too, if you want.

The options are endless! You can obviously use non-holiday candy to make this a year-round candy bark. Or use Christmas candy to make it a Christmas bark.

Candy barks are one of the easiest ways to celebrate holidays and give edible gifts to your loved ones. They look a lot more difficult than they are. And are always delicious!

I'm not going to lie... This Valentine's Day bark is a bit dangerous as it's so addictive, but it is the best mid-afternoon treat. Though I may have had a piece or two for breakfast this week.

More Valentine's Day Dessert Recipes

In my opinion, Valentine's Day is the perfect excuse for lots of dessert-making! I love using festive candy for Valentine's Day bark, but I have lots of other favorite Valentine's Day dessert recipes, some that use candy and some that don't! Here are some of the best:

• Red Velvet Cookie Dough Bars
• Conversation Heart Cookies
• Grapefruit Crinkle Cookies with Campari Icing
• Red Velvet Ice Cream with Cookie Dough
• Rose Pistachio Shortbread Cookies
• Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Heart Cookies
• Chocolate Strawberry Bouquet (from Addicted to Dates)
• Valentine's Snack Cakes (from Rose and Whiskers)

However you're celebrating (or not celebrating) Valentine's Day, I hope there's lots of candy, sweetness, and love involved!

What's your favorite Valentine's Day candy?