I love peppermint bark & I've always wanted to try to make it. I've had some not so good experiences with chocolate so I've been putting it off. I finally gave it a shot today. It was delicious! I looked at tons of recipes online before I picked one. Of course I couldn't leave it as-is. I got my recipe from allrecipes.com. I doubled the recipe because I wanted a larger batch. I also used 12 candy canes rather than peppermint candies...they just feel more like Christmas to me :-) I used the food processor to break up the candy canes. This worked out really well for 2 reasons. 1) It was really fast. 2) some of the candy was very fine & some was chunky. I just sifted the pieces to separate the fine pieces from the chunky pieces.
I used about half of the fine pieces to sprinkle on the semisweet chocolate. I used the other half to mix in with the white chocolate after it was melted. Since I was adding actual peppermint candy I only used half the amount of peppermint extract that the recipe called for. I thought it would look really pretty & it did. However, once I sprinkled the chunky pieces on top you couldn't really tell. Once I sprinkled the chunky candies over the white chocolate I pressed them down lightly with my hand so they stayed in place.
This was really easy & it turned out SO good. The hardest part was breaking it apart at the end. Breaking cold chocolate is actually pretty hard, & a little messy. I had candy cane pieces all over the place!
Ingredients:
I used about half of the fine pieces to sprinkle on the semisweet chocolate. I used the other half to mix in with the white chocolate after it was melted. Since I was adding actual peppermint candy I only used half the amount of peppermint extract that the recipe called for. I thought it would look really pretty & it did. However, once I sprinkled the chunky pieces on top you couldn't really tell. Once I sprinkled the chunky candies over the white chocolate I pressed them down lightly with my hand so they stayed in place.
This was really easy & it turned out SO good. The hardest part was breaking it apart at the end. Breaking cold chocolate is actually pretty hard, & a little messy. I had candy cane pieces all over the place!
Ingredients:
1 pound high-quality semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon canola oil, divided
1 teaspoon peppermint extract, divided
1 pound high-quality white chocolate, broken into pieces
50 peppermint candies, crushed
Directions:
Break up candy canes or peppermint candies. You can do this in a food processor or put the candy in a zip lock bag & break it with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer.
Place semisweet chocolate & 2 tsp canola oil in double boiler over barely simmering water. Scrape sides of double boiler with spatula often so your chocolate doesn't scorch. Once chocolate is completely melted, add 1/2 tsp peppermint extract & stir in. Pour in pan, covered in wax paper . & spread evenly.
If you don't have a double boiler, they're wonderful. Today is the first time I've ever used mine. I used to use a glass bowl in a pot & it was so much harder. The handles make it so much easier & I didn't burn myself at all. haha. I also used to scorch chocolate a lot using a glass bowl. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with the bowl or if it was just my technique. For this amount I used a 10x13...I didn't grease the pan as the recipe calls for, I didn't think it was necessary with the wax paper. I didn't have any trouble.
Place the pan in the fridge until chocolate his hardened, about 20 mins. I began to melt the white chocolate when I had about 3 minutes until I could pull the semisweet chocolate out & the timing worked out perfectly. Repeat the melting process with white chocolate. I only added 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract to the white chocolate & mixed in the rest of the fine peppermint. Pour over the semisweet chocolate & spread evenly. Be careful during this part, I was a little too persistent while trying to spread it evenly & I started to mix the semisweet & white chocolate in a few areas.
Sprinkle the chunky peppermint over the white chocolate & press it down lightly so it settles in the bark rather than on top of it. Put in fridge until hardened.
Break up into desired pieces.
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon canola oil, divided
1 teaspoon peppermint extract, divided
1 pound high-quality white chocolate, broken into pieces
50 peppermint candies, crushed
Directions:
Break up candy canes or peppermint candies. You can do this in a food processor or put the candy in a zip lock bag & break it with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer.
Place semisweet chocolate & 2 tsp canola oil in double boiler over barely simmering water. Scrape sides of double boiler with spatula often so your chocolate doesn't scorch. Once chocolate is completely melted, add 1/2 tsp peppermint extract & stir in. Pour in pan, covered in wax paper . & spread evenly.
If you don't have a double boiler, they're wonderful. Today is the first time I've ever used mine. I used to use a glass bowl in a pot & it was so much harder. The handles make it so much easier & I didn't burn myself at all. haha. I also used to scorch chocolate a lot using a glass bowl. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with the bowl or if it was just my technique. For this amount I used a 10x13...I didn't grease the pan as the recipe calls for, I didn't think it was necessary with the wax paper. I didn't have any trouble.
Place the pan in the fridge until chocolate his hardened, about 20 mins. I began to melt the white chocolate when I had about 3 minutes until I could pull the semisweet chocolate out & the timing worked out perfectly. Repeat the melting process with white chocolate. I only added 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract to the white chocolate & mixed in the rest of the fine peppermint. Pour over the semisweet chocolate & spread evenly. Be careful during this part, I was a little too persistent while trying to spread it evenly & I started to mix the semisweet & white chocolate in a few areas.
Sprinkle the chunky peppermint over the white chocolate & press it down lightly so it settles in the bark rather than on top of it. Put in fridge until hardened.
Break up into desired pieces.
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