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Peppermint Bark
Easy and delicious homemade Peppermint Bark is beautifully festive and a quick treat to make during the holidays. It's a simple recipe that will look gorgeous on your cookie platter and is great for gifting.
Ingredients
- 7 ounces (200g) high-quality semisweet dark chocolate, finely chopped (I only use these couverture callets for melting)
- 6 ounces (170g) premium pure white chocolate, finely chopped (I only use this one)
- 2 squares (20g) shiny, glossy, nicely tempered premium dark chocolate, (such as a fresh Lindt 70% bar)
- ¼ teaspoon pure peppermint extract (not “mint” extract)
- ¼ cup (30g) crushed peppermint candy or crushed candy cane
Instructions
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or wax paper. You can also line an 8x8-inch square baking pan so that the paper comes up all sides to lift the bark out easily.
- Crush the peppermint. Place the unwrapped candy canes or peppermint candies in a sealed zip-top bag and roll or bang with a rolling pin or meat mallet until crushed.
- Although you can melt chocolate in the microwave, I highly recommend following my method which will give you the best results for glossy sheen and firm snap on the finished bark. This method is the quick and easy way to temper your chocolate without actually having to temper it. First fill a saucepan with just about ½ inch of water and bring it to a simmer. The saucepan should be large enough to fit the base of your heatproof mixing bowl, but not so big that the bottom of the bowl touches the bottom of the pan. The bowl should just rest over the pan.
- Make the top layer. I like to work with the white chocolate first. Place the white chocolate in a medium mixing bowl (either choose metal or heat-resistant glass), add the peppermint extract and stir it around to coat the chocolate. Set the bowl over the saucepan with gently simmering water. Stir constantly, bringing the chocolate that melts first around the edges toward the middle to keep everything moving so that it melts evenly. When 75% of the chocolate is melted, take the bowl off of the heat and continue stirring until the rest of the chocolate melts. Set it aside but try to keep it warm. If it is cold in your house, avoid setting it on a granite or marble countertop which will suck the heat out of it.
- Make the bottom layer. Place the chopped chocolate in another medium mixing bowl (metal or heat-resistant glass), add the two squares of bittersweet chocolate and set it over the saucepan with gently simmering water. Stir constantly, bringing the chocolate that melts first around the edges toward the middle to keep everything moving so that it melts evenly. When 75% of the chocolate is melted, take the bowl off of the heat and continue stirring until the rest of the chocolate melts. The large squares may not be completely melted, and that’s OK since they’ve served their purpose to “seed” the remaining chocolate and coax it to stay in temper. Remove them and save them to snack on later. Do not increase the heat to melt these squares as this will over-heat the batch. It is important not to let the chocolate temperature rise above 92°F or the chocolate will come out of temper.
- Assemble the bark. Pour the melted dark chocolate onto your baking sheet and spread it out in a smooth even layer using a small offset spatula so it is roughly an 8x8-inch square. Immediately spoon the melted white chocolate back and forth over the dark chocolate to cover most of it while leaving a few gaps to let the dark chocolate peak through. Use the small offset spatula to gently spread out the white chocolate on the surface to make it a bit more even, and try not to spread too deeply or it will run into the dark chocolate and the combination will look more like milk chocolate. Take the back of a spoon and swirl around over the melted chocolate to fuse the white and the dark together. It won’t be perfectly flat – instead it will have some grooves and hills and valleys which makes it look beautiful.
- Immediately sprinkle the crushed peppermint or candy canes on top before the chocolate sets so that the adhere well. Set the pan aside and let set in a cool, dry environment for 1-2 hours. If it is hot or humid where you live, then place it in the fridge to set for about 30 minutes.
- Break it up. Once set and hardened, lift the bark off of the parchment or remove from the pan and break or cut into pieces as large or as small as you want. I suggest breaking with your hands so you can hear that nice snap and it will make less crumbs so you will have more intact pieces. Cover and store leftover bark in an airtight container in a dry environment at a cool room temperature. If it is hot and humid where you are, it’s best to store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
