Peppermint & Chocolate Bark

Every Christmas I make a delicious sweet tempting dessert called bark. It makes a pretty dish for a Christmas get together, a great gift, or a sweet treat to send with the hubs to work. The basic no fail recipe is: Chocolate and Peppermint. You can't go wrong with either. However, the possibilities are endless with this goodness. Different chocolates (white, dark, milk) and the different hard candies you use (peppermint, orange, raspberry....). Yes I have tried all and I have never had any problems with the whole batch being gone in a matter of a few days. Usually I just make slabs of the stuff (easy peezy) and break pieces off. This year I decided to go a little crafty and these are the results:

These were seriously heavy. The gingerbread probably weighs in at about two pounds of pure chocolate. A lil heart attack in heaven!

So how do you make these? Easy. All you need is the chocolate you want to use and the hard candies you want to use. The amounts vary so you will need to play with it. You always want more chocolate than the hard candy.

Step 1: 

Put your unwrapped hard candies in a ziploc bag. Double or triple bag because this can and will make a mess.

Step 2: 

Get your anger out on the ziploc bag and the hard candies by pounding it with a mallet, rolling pin or even a pan. When you have a grainy but a few small chunks left  your done with the anger management.

Step 3. 

You can double boil or microwave your chocolate. If you are using two different chocolates you need two separate bowls. Personally I like double boiling because its pretty hard to over cook the chocolate. 

*(You may be asking me what double broil is and because not everyone knows here is the directions for that...just get a small pot fill half full with water, get a metal bowl that is bigger than the pot and place on top of the pot. Turn on the flame and add your chocolate to the bowl. Make sure to wear heat pads because the bowl will get hot and make sure to stir. When your chocolate still has a little bit of chunks in it but mostly smooth take it off the pot and finish stirring.)*

Step 4: 

If you want flat bark that you can break into pieces (not like the above picture) grab a cookie pan and line with parchment paper. 

*See below picture to see how you make the shapes like I did.*

Step 5: 

Cover the parchment paper in the chocolate. You can get crazy here if you want. If you have two different chocolates you can swirl the chocolates together to make a marbled look or you can layer your chocolate. Whatever you see fit. When your done laying down your chocolate to how you want it add your crushed up candy. Press gently into the chocolate and place in the refrigerator flat. Wait until it sets. Take it out and simply break into pieces. 

Step 6: 

Devour the tasty goodness!

         If you want to make bark like I did here is the silicone baking pans I used. Its the same processes minus the parchment paper.