You asked for it, so here it is once again~ my crunchy peppermint bark. It’s quick to make. Start to finish, about 15 minutes.
Each holiday season, my kids and I love to make Peppermint Bark to nibble and to pack in beribboned boxes to give as teacher or hostess gifts. And it never fails. Everyone who receives the treat bark MUST have the recipe. Now we just include a copy printed on a festive card. I just know you will want the recipe (my version takes only minutes from start to finish), so here you go!
(Note: White chocolate scorches easily. So, you can be “Martha” and use a double-boiler –or just check the chocolate’s progress in your handy-dandy microwave. Guess which I do?)
Yield: Makes just over 2 pounds or one cookie sheet full
Ingredients:
2 bags of Nestles white chocolate morsels (I’ve tried about every brand there is, and Nestles works best)
12 large candy canes
1/2 teaspoon peppermint oil (oil, not extract–you can find it at craft or baking stores with candy making supplies)
1 Ziplock freezer bag, gallon size
How to:
1. Line an 11-by-17-inch baking sheet with parchment and set aside. In a pinch, you can use aluminum foil (but you may have to peel off the bark instead of just lifting it off.)
2. Take the candy canes out of the wrappers and drop them into the Ziplock bag (Freezer bags are thicker–but you can double up on a regular zipper bags if you like.)
3. Hand the closed bag to the kids and let them bang it on the kitchen counter until the canes are smashed into 1/4 inch pieces. (No kids around? Roll a wine bottle over the bag a few times. I like to use a good bottle of red –more festive, you know. )
4. Empty the white chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 60 seconds. Microwave strength varies, so watch carefully. Take the bowl out and stir well. Heat it for another 30 seconds. Stir again. If the chocolate isn’t melted, continue at 10 second intervals to avoid scorching. (Note: the morsels hold form until you stir, so you can’t just look in the bowl to check if they’ve melted.)
4. Immediately stir the pieces of candy cane and the peppermint oil into the melted chocolate.
5. Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet; spread evenly to about thickness of 1/2 inch.
6. Refrigerate until firm, a minimum of 10 minutes, or pop it in the freezer for 5 minutes.� Both cooling methods work, it just depends how hungry or time-pressed you are.� Break into pieces and eat some to check crunchiness (okay, just because you want to). Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to one week.
