Peppermint Bark

A simple layered holiday bark made with white and semi-sweet chocolates, flavored with peppermint, and garnished with crushed candy canes.

Nothing screams Christmas time more than peppermint bark, don’t you agree? That iconic black and white contrast piece of candy speckled with bright red and white candy cane bits– it’s like a holiday must have!

Williams-Sonoma and Ghirardelli have the monopoly over the peppermint bark market, and do you know how much W-S charges per POUND of the stuff?

$28.95.

WHAT? WHY??

It cost me $10-12ish to make a pound. Plus… Love.

There’s always love in my baked goods. That’s why they taste so good!

So let’s talk about how simple it is to throw this together. First things first, you’re going to need some high quality (I cannot stress this enough) chocolate for this peppermint bark.

Absolutely no chips.

Chocolate chips are made with stabilizers that prevent them from melting into the silky smooth texture you’ll need for this bark.

Stabilized chocolate is great for inside cookies, where you want the chips to keep their shape! Not so much when we’re looking for pourable, spreadable, smoooooth chocolate.

Ghirardelli, Baker’s, Lindt, or even Hershey’s are great for this recipe.

You’ll also need some peppermint extract (which you’ll have if you’ve made my peppermint mocha creamer from last week), and candy canes or peppermint candies (such as starlight mints), all crushed up.

Just 4 ingredients.

I’m telling you, it’s dangerously easy to make this holiday staple, and if you listen (read?) closely, I’ll give you some tips in the recipe to help make this go as smoothy as possible.

Once the bark is nicely put together, completely chilled, and ready to devour, you have the choice of breaking it apart by hand or cutting it up into squares with a very sharp knife.

I wanted to cut mine into squares, so I let the entire pan sit on the counter for about 10 minutes to soften up a bit. If you try to cut into very cold chocolate, you’ll end up with jagged edges and possibly flying bits of chocolate strewn about your kitchen.

No good. Find something to do for 10 minutes while you wait to cut it.

Sweet, smoothy, chocolatey, and oh-so-pepperminty. Christmas time is here, y’all. Let’s peppermint bark it up.

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5 from 2 votes

Peppermint Bark

A simple layered holiday bark made with white and semi-sweet chocolates, flavored with peppermint, and garnished with crushed candy canes.

Prep Time1 hr 30 mins

Total Time1 hr 30 mins

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Recipe Author Lynn April

Servings: 1 pound

Ingredients

• 6 ounces high quality semi-sweet chocolate coarsely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 8 ounces high quality white chocolate coarsely chopped
• 3-4 large candy canes crushed

Instructions

• Line an 8" baking pan with aluminum foil, allowing foil to come up along the sides of the pan. Smooth out any wrinkles and set aside.
• In a medium saucepan over low-medium heat, melt the semi-sweet chocolate, stirring constantly, until smooth. You may also do this in the microwave, melting chocolate in 15 second intervals and stirring thoroughly with a spatula between each interval. Once chocolate is completely melted, stir in peppermint extract.
• Pour melted semi-sweet chocolate into prepared baking pan, spreading with a spatula into an even layer (it will be very thin-- this is ok). Rap pan on counter top several times to settle chocolate and remove any air bubbles. Place pan in the refrigerator or freezer for 20 minutes or until completely set.
• After you are sure semi-sweet chocolate layer is completely set, move onto the white chocolate layer. In a medium saucepan over low-medium heat, melt the white chocolate, stirring constantly, until smooth. You may also do this in the microwave, melting chocolate in 15 second intervals and stirring thoroughly with a spatula between each interval.
• Pour melted white chocolate directly on top of semi-sweet layer, gently spreading with a spatula into an even layer. Be careful not to disturb the semi-sweet layer on the bottom, as it will melt a bit once the hot white chocolate hits it. Rap pan on counter top several times to settle chocolate and remove any air bubbles. Sprinkle crushed candy canes on top and tap pan on counter again to settle everything. Place pan in the refrigerator or freezer until completely set.
• Once entire pan is completely hardened, remove bark from the pan and peel off the foil. Break into desired size pieces or cut squares. If you choose to cut into squares, allow pan to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes, then cut using a very sharp knife. Bark should be stored in the refrigerator and will keep for up to 3 weeks.

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Add some pretzels to your peppermint bark for the next batch!

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