Merry Christmas!

And a recipe to share for the season!  Super easy, but looks much more impressive!

Peppermint Bark

 

Ingredients

• 12 ounces (about 2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped, or chocolate chips.  Milk chocolate or dark chocolate can also be used.
• 12 ounces (about 2 cups) white chocolate, chopped, or white chocolate chips
• 1 bag peppermint hard candies (you could also use candy canes)
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Directions

1. Coarsely crush the peppermint candies.  The method we usually use is to place the candy canes in a tightly sealed, large Ziploc bag, then use a rolling pin or meat tenderizer to roll/smash the candy canes until they are the desired size.  Another method is to unwrap the peppermints and place them in a food processor. Pulse on/off several times for 5-10 seconds each, until the candies have been crushed into small pieces.
2. Prepare a cookie sheet by covering it with smooth aluminum foil or waxed paper.
3. Melt the dark chocolate.  Use a double boiler or a bowl over a pan of boiling water.  Be sure to stir constantly.  You could also use the microwave: microwave in medium, microwave-safe bowl on Medium-high (70 percent) power for 1 minute; stir. Microwave at additional 10- to 20-second intervals, stirring until smooth.  Be careful if you're using the microwave though, as it's very easy (and smelly!) to burn the chocolate.
4. Pour the chocolate onto the prepared cookie sheet and use a spatula or knife to spread it to an even thickness.  Remember, the thicker the chocolate, the harder it is to bite into once it's set, so you don't want it too thick!  The chocolate does not have to reach all sides of the sheet, as it will be broken up later anyhow. 
5. Place the tray in the refrigerator to firm up while you prepare the white chocolate.
6. While the dark chocolate hardens, melt the white chocolate, again in the double boiler or bowl-and-pot set-up. Stir in the peppermint extract.  Optional: stir in some of the smaller candy bits, reserving about a quarter of the mixture to put on top.
7. Remove the tray from the refrigerator and spread the white chocolate in an even layer over the dark chocolate.
8. While the white chocolate is still wet, sprinkle the remaining candy pieces evenly over the entire surface. Press down very lightly to make sure that they stick. Place the tray back in the refrigerator to set.  This usually takes at least 30 minutes.
9. Once the peppermint bark bark is completely set, break into small, uneven pieces by hand.
10. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Here you see the finished candy as it looks on the tray.  You break it apart like English toffee or peanut brittle.

You can see the layers of  the candy a little bit better here.  Sorry it's a little blurry, though.  I don't have a great super-zoom sort of lens on my simple point-and-shoot camera.

 

Some thoughts, notes, and variations:

• The amounts of chocolate are just estimates.  More or less chocolate won't really make a difference in the final product - just means you have more or less of a given layer (not one of those recipes where you can't use egg replacer instead of eggs, for example).  In the batch pictured, we used 18 oz. white chocolate (3 6-oz boxes of Baker's White Chocolate) and 16 oz semi-sweet (2 8-oz boxes of Baker's Semi-sweet Chocolate).  Why?  Because that's what the commissary had :)
• Always use good quality chocolate.  Besides tasting better as an end product, the layers will set better and not peel apart.
• It is common to see peppermint bark made with only one chocolate layer (usually white chocolate) and the candies. I like the layers, but if you don't, feel free to omit it.  Alternatively, if you don't like white chocolate, it is acceptable to just use the semi-sweet.
• If you are mixing in candy pieces into the white chocolate layer, you want the larger pieces on the top, as they are more decorative, and the smaller pieces mixed in.  Here is a great idea to accomplish that:.  Use a strainer with the candy, so that the smaller pieces are mixed into the chocolate and the larger pieces are caught in the strainer to set bet aside and used on the top.
• Rita Heikenfeld at AboutEating.com had an interesting variation on how to make the bottom layer.  I'd always made it by melting each layer in a double boiler, but she starts out by melting a layer of chocolate chips in the oven on a low setting, smoothing it, then letting it set in the fridge as usual.  Interesting!  I wonder how much time it saves...
• If you take the finished tray of candy out of the fridge and let it sit for a few minutes, it will soften enough to be MUCH easier to cut apart!

Enjoy!  And Merry Christmas!