Sun-Baked Homemade Chocolate Bars

For the summer months, I am working in the early mornings while my husband stays home with the four kids.  Then I return and he goes to work.  Today I said we would bring him lunch.  So five of us trundled over to where he works and made our lunchtime delivery.  Then it was time to return home to eat our lunch.  But on the way to the door, we spied the candy vending machine.

Though we had not even a nickel along in our pockets, I humored my hungry brood half way by letting them type in the codes to reveal the prices of the treats for sale.  Candy bar or chips for $2.00 (Canadian), anyone?  Even my children realized that the prices were exorbitant.

When we returned home, my 9-year-old asked if we had any chocolate chips.  She thought it would be fun to melt them and make her own candy bars, no coinage required.  Since it is blazing hot this week, melting the chips proved easy.  We simply used solar power, as I like to do to dry my clothes.

Here's how we formed our own chocolate candy bars...

Step 1: Assemble the ingredients and equipment.

We lined a glass bread pan with waxed paper and added chocolate chips 

and a few almonds.  Then we covered the pan with plastic wrap.

Step 2: Place the pan in the sun to bake.   

We set the pan on a metal roof (though any sunny spot would do) 

until the chocolate melted.  We stirred the chips to form a smooth layer, 

and then set the chocolate out again.

Step 3: Cool and cut the chocolate bars.

After cooling the pan in the freezer (or fridge), the bars were ready to cut.  

We used a sharp knife, since the chocolate was very firm.

Step 4: Serve and enjoy.

Since the bars are prone to melting, we stored them in the refrigerator.

If you are interested in healthier chocolate recipes, I have recipes for dairy free chocolate pudding, chocolate waffles and chocolate donuts posted at my new food blog, Swirls and Spice.