Peppermint Bark: A Tradition Which Never Ends

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year.  It was dark when I left for work in the morning and dark at night when I returned home.  I hate the dark. 

We made some super hot nachos for dinner. I had a glass of wine.  I settled in for a movie.  There was no cell phone, no email, and no internet.  Although I love blogging and checking out what everyone else is doing after a week of 10 hour work days with non-stop staring at the computer, I needed a rest. 

Thus my post today is a repeat. It's been a tradition for years now to make peppermint bark. It is a favorite of my mom.  Every year I see the stuff in stores easily going for $19.99/lb and I laugh. It is so simple to make and can easily be done with three ingredients. This year it hasn't happened yet but come Saturday this is definitely on the agenda.

Christmas bark

1 12 ox bag white chocolate chips ( the better the white chocolate the easier it is to work with)

1 tbsp peppermint extract

1 box candy canes or peppermint candy (red and white is the most festive)

1 cookie sheet

1. Unwrap all of the candy canes or peppermint candies. Put into a durable baggie, Ziploc Freezer bags work fine. Use a meat tenderizer or roller pin to break up all of the candy into small pieces.

2. Melt the white chocolate either by putting it in a double boiler and stirring constantly or my preferred method is simply dumping the bag in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 second intervals stirring after each time. This method will take about 2 minutes of heating. You can stop heating when there are still a few lumps of solid chocolate left. Keep stirring and the heat will continue to be dispersed and melt the remaining chocolate. This will you will not over heat and burn the chocolate. Once you over heat white chocolate there is no saving it.

3. Stir in the peppermint extract and candy cane pieces. Spread on a clean cookie sheet and even out the thickness across the pan. Don't worry if it does not reach all of the sides. Cool until harden in the refrigerator.

4. Once hard gently twist the cookie sheet so it is not flat bottomed, this should produce cracks through the harden bark. Then use your hand to break up into desired sized pieces.