Peppermint Bark

Christmas time is the best inspiration for baking. I love that there are so many treats that are specific to Christmas and are rarely seen any other time of year.

On Saturday I made Christmas cookies with the girls. On Wednesday I made peppermint bark with my friend from church, Rachel. It's really easy to make. And really wonderful to eat. It was oh so tempting to eat it all up right away.

I always make Lucas wait to eat things until I go through a gazillion pictures, trying to get the right angle. Poor guy.

You can make peppermint bark with white chocolate or both white chocolate and milk chocolate. You could make it with just milk chocolate as well, if you're not a white chocolate fan.

I used my little pan for my little freezer. But, for all y'all normal folk, here is the original recipe...

Peppermint Bark Recipe
Ingredients:

• 6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (170 g) in squares or coarsely chopped
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 6 oz. white chocolate (170g) in squares or coarsely chopped
• 1/3-1/2 cup crushed candy canes or starlight mints (to crush them, simply place them in a Ziploc bag and go to town on them with a rolling pin)

Directions:

1. Line a 8x8" baking pan with parchment paper
2. Make a double boiler by placing a heatproof mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water
3. Melt semi-sweet chocolate and one teaspoon of vegetable oil in bowl over saucepan
4. Pour melted chocolate into baking pan and tilt pan to spread the chocolate evenly along the bottom
5. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until chocolate has set
6. Melt white chocolate and remaining one teaspoon of vegetable oil in heatproof bowl over saucepan
7. Pour white chocolate over the chilled dark chocolate and spread evenly
8. Sprinkle peppermint candy evenly over white chocolate
9. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until white chocolate has set
10. Remove the bark from the pan by gently lifting up the parchment paper.
11. Peel back the paper and break the bark apart with your hands into different pieces
12. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to two weeks

This recipe makes about 25 delicious pieces of bark.