Thursday, January 10, 2008

Peppermint Bark - Fun For Kids



Christmas is over, trees are being disposed of, and decorations are being put away until next year. And then there's always the leftover candy canes. What should I do with them? Stick some in my purse and use them as breath mints? Keep a bowl out for the kids? Feed them to a horse?

No! I say, make peppermint bark! It's so simple to make, and with no eggs or other raw foods it's very safe for the kids to help with.

Peppermint Bark
Makes approximately 30 bite size pieces

Ingredients
12 ounces of white chocolate
3 ounces of candy canes

The first thing to do with this recipe is set up a bain-marie (double boiler). A bain-marie is used to keep things from burning. It's a method often used to melt chocolate, or make mayonnaise or hollandaise sauce.



It's very simple to make a bain-marie. Take a pot, and fill it about 1/3 full with water. Then take a bowl that will sit nicely on top of the pot without touching the water. Heat gently under a low to medium flame. Now the bain-marie is ready to use.



Take the white chocolate, and place it in the top bowl of the bain-marie. It will start to gently melt.



Stir the chocolate occasionally, until all of the chocolate is melted.

In the meanwhile, place the candy canes into a ziploc bag, seal the bag without air in it, and crush them with a rolling pin, or something else heavy.







When the chocolate is completely melted, turn the heat off, and fold in the peppermint pieces until well incorporated.





Then, on a waxed covered cookie sheet, pour out the chocolate and peppermint mixture.



Spread this mixture out carefully until it is 1/8-1/4 of an inch thick.



Let the chocolate harden, which takes approximately 20 minutes. You can also set this aside for a few hours and come back to it if need be.



Finally, break the hardened chocolate into bite size pieces.



The taste of the peppermint bark is mildly sweet and cooling.

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