Oh, and FYI--I am not eating these all by myself! This treat and the peanut butter cups are my contributions to two potluck parties I am going to today. So while I may be a little fatty, I am not a huge eat-the-whole-pan-while-home-alone fatty. At least not today, anyway....
Homemade Peppermint Bark (inspired by Joy of Baking, but really all the recipes I found online are basically the same)
Ingredients (makes about 25 pieces, at ~100 calories/each):
1/2 lb. dark chocolate (or milk)
1/2 lb. white chocolate (the good stuff; make sure it has cocoa butter, not vegetable fats)
1 T. vegetable oil (divided)
3-4 candy canes, crushed
Chop the chocolate. Don't use chocolate chips.
Place 2/3 of the dark chocolate pieces and 1/2 T. of the vegetable oil in a double boiler, or in a pretend double boiler fashioned out of a heat-proof bowl placed on top of a pot.
Bring the water to a slow simmer and stir the chocolate until it is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and add the remaining 1/3 of the pieces and stir until smooth and creamy. This will help "temper" the chocolate so that you get that nice shiny and hard crunch in your chocolate bark.
Line an 8x8 inch pan with foil. Or do like I did and use the foil to separate a smaller portion of the 9x13 inch pan dish if that is all you have. Ha!
Pour the melted dark chocolate into the dish and spread it evenly using a spatula.
Place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to let the chocolate set and harden. It should look like this when it is ready (I guess I "tempered" it correctly because there are no streaks and it does have that hard crunch!):
The next step is to repeat the melting procedure with the white chocolate. Chop, melt 2/3 of it with 1/2 T. vegetable oil, remove from heat and add remaining 1/3 chocolate, stir.
Mine never got 100% smooth--there were a few small lumps that just would not melt so I went with it. It did not make a difference in the final product so no worries if yours does it, too. Anyway, once it is melted pour it over the dark chocolate layer (immediately after removing it from the fridge) and spread evenly with the spatula.
Then sprinkle with the crushed candy canes and push the pieces into the chocolate slightly so they stick. (Crush the candy canes either in a food processor or put them in a ziploc bag and bang/pound/roll/beat with a jar, hammer, or rolling pin. Just know, this will make a mess but that is all in the fun, right?)
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or longer. When hardened, pick up the foil and peel foil off the bottom. Break or cut the bark into various pieces. EAT.
(Note: during cutting, the layers separated on a few of the pieces. After doing some research, it seems like it might be a good idea to let the bark sit out for a few minutes before cutting so that it is not rock hard. It may or may not help with the separating.)
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