Potluck Perfection: Almond Roca

This weekend I was invited to not one but two potlucks.  Whenever I am asked to bring something to a potluck, I'm always looking for a recipe that's easy to make but is still a crowd pleaser.  Over the holidays, my sister's mother-in-law made a delicious homemade almond roca that easily fit the bill.  Since I didn't have her recipe, I did a bit of internet research and found the following recipe.  It wasn't just a crowd pleaser - it was an absolute show stopper. And best of all, it only took 20 minutes of active cooking time.  In my opinion, that's about as close to perfection as you can get.

Almond Roca

1 lb (4 sticks) of unsalted butter
2 cups of granulated sugar
2 Tbsp of light corn syrup
6 Tbsp of water
1 cup of finely chopped almonds
1 11 oz. bag of chocolate chips

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat:

Once the butter has melted, stir in sugar, corn syrup, and water (the mixture will bubble rapidly):

Stir constantly with a wooden spoon. (If you have a candy thermometer, you'll want to cook the mixture until it reaches 290 F.  I don't own one, so I cooked the mixture until it turned the color of a brown paper bag, which took approximately 20 minutes.):

Remove the mixture from heat and stir in 1/2 of the almonds:

Pour the mixture onto a greased rimmed cookie sheet:

As the mixture cools, score it using a butter knife:

Melt the chocolate over low heat and stir until smooth:

Pour the melted chocolate over the hardened almond mixture and spread to coat evenly:

Sprinkle the remaining almonds over the bark:

Place the bark in the refrigerator and allow to cool for at least 2 hours (and up to overnight):

Remove the bark from the tray and break it apart (the squares that I had scored in the bark turned out to be a bit too large, so I broke them in half).