Valentine's Day is approaching quickly and I'm all for a little guilty pleasure every now and again. Especially when it involves a special holiday of sorts. Although, if I'm going to have any sort of treat, I always tend to throw in a few health aspects just to make it more guilt free. And this matcha chocolate is no exception!

I'm a pretty big fan of chocolate bark, in fact it's a pretty dangerous thing for me to make because tends to go pretty quickly around here. I've been toying with matcha powder for a few weeks now after buying my very first bag of it, and I have to say, it's good stuff.

I've even gotten my mom onto the matcha train too! So much so that she's asked me to come up with ways to add it into foods rather than just drinking it all the time.

Tada! This matcha chocolate is really really good.

Seriously. This is the stuff that dreams are made of. And while I've added a few aspects to make it better-for-you, it's still chocolate. Everything in moderation.

I wanted the matcha in there to give color, flavor, and even a little pep in my step. Let's face it, there's pretty much no down side that I can find to matcha. It's a concentrated powdered form of green tea that contains less caffeine and all the perks. The strawberries are a delight here, adding a bit of tartness to the sweet chocolate while the coconut gives a needed crunch factor; making for the perfect treat to soothe your sweet tooth and curb cravings.

With the way that I've broken my bark up, there is really no way to tell how much of this is a serving unless you actually were to weigh out the pieces. However, I didn't want to leave the nutritional information out completely, so I just divided into 22 servings based on the amount of chocolate that I used.

I'm not a calorie counter myself, and I know that thankfully it's a phase that's going out of style quickly. I know there's still some out there though that like for the number to be there, ahem... mom.

If you really wanted to have even pieces, you could let the chocolate warm up a bit after setting so that it would be soft enough to cut as you desire.

Strawberry & Coconut Matcha Chocolate Bark
TheSkinnyFork.com

The Skinny:
Servings: 22 • Size: About 2 Oz. • Calories: 294.2 • Fat: 16.1 g • Carb: 35.5 g • Fiber: 1 g • Protein: 5.8 g • Sugar: 33.7 g • Sodium: 63.3 mg

Ingredients:
22 Oz. Good Quality White Chocolate Chips
1 Tbsp. Matcha Powder
1 C. Freeze Dried Strawberries
1/2 C. Toasted Coconut Chips

Directions:
Line a baking/cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper and set aside.

Over a double boiler (or with two pots stacked) melt the white chocolate chips, stirring constantly and being careful not to let it burn.

Once the chocolate has melted, add in the 1 Tbsp. matcha powder and stir to combine.

Pour the matcha chocolate out over the prepared baking dish and smooth out.

Sprinkle the 1 C. dried strawberries and 1/2 C. coconut chips over the top and carefully press slightly into the chocolate to keep from falling off later.

Place the baking sheet into the freezer for about an hour and allow the chocolate to set.

Once the chocolate has hardened, remove the baking sheet from the freezer and use whatever method you desire to break up the chocolate into smaller pieces.

I used the handles of my rolling pin. Super fancy stress relief right here.