Peppermint Bark

I love to make desserts, but I don’t love to leave dessert on my kitchen table for snacking on every time I walk by. I’ve been building up my list of holiday desserts for weeks now, but one was pleading for making: peppermint bark!

After staring at the words “peppermint bark recipe” in my bookmarks toolbar for the longest week of all time, I finally got down to work and slapped it together. It turns out this recipe is really, really easy…and the product is *so* beautiful. No one believed me when I told them it took less than an hour and only three ingredients!

The best compromise on quality and price for white chocolate that I could find was Whole Food’s 365 Everyday (the house brand) white chocolate chips. The second ingredient is indeed cocoa butter, but instead of the $9/lb for Callebaut, they were only $4/lb. I used Cadbury Royal Dark for the chocolate base, but I think I would use more bitter chocolate next time–maybe 70% cocoa or more–to balance the sweetness of the white chocolate.

Peppermint Bark
Adapted from Use Real Butter’s recipe for peppermint bark.

1 pound dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1 pound white chocolate chips
12 candy canes

Press a piece of aluminum foil flat into a jelly pan, being careful to get the corners down. Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave in bursts of 20 seconds on low power, stirring between each heating period. Be careful not to burn the chocolate. When melted, pour onto the tinfoil and spread with a rubber spatula to even thickness throughout. The edges do not need to be perfectly square. Refrigerate for 20 minutes, or until hardened.

While dark chocolate is in the refrigerator, break the candy canes in half then place in the food processor. Pulse briefly a few times until pieces are no bigger than 1/4 inch across. Place a sieve over a bowl and shake the crushed candy canes into the sieve so that the powder collects in the bowl.

Melt the white chocolate, careful not to overcook. Stir in the powdered part of the candy canes using as few strokes as possible. Spread the white chocolate-candy cane mixture over the hardened dark chocolate using a CLEAN rubber spatula. Sprinkle the larger pieces of candy cane over the white chocolate and gently press them down with your (clean) hands. Refrigerate for another 20 minutes or until hardened.

Once firm, remove from the pan by lifting the tinfoil. Cut the bark into pieces of your choosing and serve! These will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.