My First Homemade Peppermint Bark

I love peppermint bark even though I usually hate white chocolate. There's just something about the combination of white chocolate with peppermint that makes it satisfying. Anyway, I wanted to make this ever since Mrs. J. at work said that she loves it. I wanted to make her some once I knew that, but I didn't have time the day before I saw her, so I just gave her the Ghirardelli peppermint bark bars instead. I haven't tried those, so I can't comment on them. Eventually, I did make some bark for the people I was visiting in New York the week of December 6th, so here are my pictures and the pretty simple (but energy-consuming) recipe below. Sorry this first picture isn't that great. Made it too thick for my taste, too.

Hmm... This came out a bit too thick. Will use a wider cookie sheet next time. Will also take a brighter picture next time. haha


Original recipe @ Use Real Butter

1 pound chocolate (semi-sweet or dark)
1 pound white chocolate
12 peppermint candy canes

*At some point before step 5, you have to pound the 12 candy canes until you have powder and little pieces. I put the unwrapped canes in a large plastic bag and pounded it all with a wooden rolling pin on top of a cutting board.*
1) Melt the dark or semi-sweet chocolate in a double-boiler (I just boiled water under a bowl containing the chocolate)
2) Spread chocolate on a wax or parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet
3) Freeze that layer
4) Melt the white chocolate
5) Mix the white chocolate with the powdered candy cane pieces (The cane crushing takes quite some time and energy. I used a makeshift sifter because my sifter is small)
6) Spread the white chocolate on the dark or semi-sweet chocolate layer
7) Sprinkle the larger candy cane pieces on top of the white layer
8) Freeze whole thing until rock hard.
9) Take it out of the freezer and find a way to crack it without breaking or scratching anything...or putting your fingerprints on it (I just cracked it under plastic wrap). My dad and I used our hands and...clean kitchen scissors. If you make it thinner than I did, which I recommend, it'll be easier to break up. This first picture shows the canes a little bit too big still:


The small pieces (to mix into the white chocolate):

The bigger chunks (for the topping):

Melting the white chocolate chips with my little double-boiler:



I had trouble getting the white chocolate chips to melt...and then the tiny candy cane pieces wouldn't mix in well (it clumped a lot). :o(