Jelly Bean Bark (2 Ingredients!)

This Jelly Bean Bark is super simple and only two ingredients! Easy, fast and fun to make and decorate with the kiddos, it makes for a great treat for Easter gifts!

My mom and I are alike in so many ways.

For instance, her love of jelly beans is genetic – I received the gene loudly and proudly and I can inhale an entire bag in about .4959 seconds flat.

Both of us aren’t huge into chocolate, but we can pound a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough as if we’re in an eating contest.

And like my mom, I’m a carb-eating machine that never passes up an opportunity to scarf down the bread basket.

So basically what I’m saying is my mom and I love food. A lot. And it connects us through our love of brunch, mimosas, and candy.

Of course, she and I will eat jelly beans year-round, but I think we can all unanimously agree that this is the season for jelly beans, no? I’m not sure how bunny rabbits got associated with eggs, or how jelly beans became associated with Easter, but I kinda love it and I am an Easter candy marketer’s dream come true. I’m not normally a Reese’s person, but turn the candy coating shell pastel spring colors and I’ll mow down a whole bag. They just taste better when they’re done up in rainbow colors, don’t you think?

Plus, if you need an easy, last-minute, quick Easter gift idea for teachers, neighbors, family, friends, coaches, or literally anyone else on the planet, this Jelly Bean Bark is the perfect solution! It could not be simpler to make, and it is only 2 ingredients… unless you want to add sprinkles, which I hardly consider an ingredient. Much like salt, pepper, and olive oil, sprinkles should be a given pantry staple!

So a few things about this easy, addictive bark:

1. I recommend using white chocolate candy coating or candy melts/almond bark for this recipe. White chocolate chips, to be frank, suck. They don’t have a high melting point and are very easily prone to seizing. Once they’ve seized up, they’re unusable. I really like Candiquik, or Ghirardelli’s new white chocolate wafer melts which you can find at most grocery stores and places like Target.
2. You can obviously use any brand/kind of jelly beans you’d like; HOWEVER… I tested this with both Jelly Bellies assorted flavors and a Starburst-flavored jelly bean bag and I preferred the Starburst (all fruit) ones personally. Why? Well to put it simply, there are some Jelly Belly flavors I dislike and didn’t want them ruining the batch of candy (looking at you, black licorice and buttered popcorn!). I found that all fruit-flavored jelly beans tasted better because the fruit mixed with the white chocolate worked better. (Side note: I know in the photos they look black, but the darker beans I used were grape flavor!).

Honestly, you can use whatever Easter candy you’d prefer – Reese’s Pieces Eggs, malted milk eggs, jelly beans, pastel M&M’s… the possibilities are limitless, but I just thought jelly beans were extra festive!

All you do is melt the white chocolate according to package directions and spread it into a thin-ish layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Immediately top it with your jelly beans and sprinkles, if using. Then just let it set and break it into pieces. Easy peasy!

Now who wants some jelly beans?!

Have a super sweet day!

xo, Hayley