![]() Wednesday, December 1, has officially been declared National Peppermint Bark Day by National Today, marking the kickoff of the Christmas holiday season and the official start time for Americans to enjoy their preferred holiday treat. Celebrate National Peppermint Bark Day Dec 1 with a Christmas Peppermint Bark Recipe As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Let the chocolate completely set for an 1 hour.This Christmas Peppermint Bark Recipe post may contain affiliate links which means we receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase.Press down a little with your hands to make sure the candy canes stick but not so much that your hands get chocolatey. ![]() Spread the chocolate over the set semisweet chocolate in the pan and sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top.It should look so glossy that it appears like it is still melted chocolate, but when you touch it, it has dried. To check that it is tempered, dip a spoon in the chocolate and if the chocolate sets in about 5 minutes then you've tempered it correctly.Remove the chocolate from the heat and stir in the remaining white chocolate a few pieces at a time.You won't add an extra minute or 2 like for the semisweet because it's white chocolate and you don't want it going past 105☏. Place the chocolate over the boiling water (the bottom of your double boiler or bowl should not touch the water) and stir until all of it is melted or until it is 105☏.Put ⅔rds of the white chocolate in a double boiler pot or in a heatproof bowl that sits on top of your saucepan.Now you will repeat the melting process with the White Chocolate: Pour the semisweet chocolate into the lined pan and let sit for about 10 minutes or until it is set.Stir in ¾ teaspoon of peppermint extract.To check that it is tempered, dip a spoon in the chocolate and if the chocolate sets in about 5 minutes, then you've tempered it correctly.I stirred my chocolate for about 5 minutes after all the chunks were melted. Stir until all of the chocolate is melted and is cooled to around 85☏.Remove the chocolate from the heat and stir in the remaining semisweet chocolate a few pieces at a time.Place the chocolate over the boiling water (the bottom of your double boiler or bowl should not touch the water) and stir until completely melted plus another minute or 2 to get the chocolate up to around 120☏.Put ⅔rds of the semisweet chocolate in a double boiler pot or in a heatproof bowl that sits on top of your saucepan.I like to use Ghirardelli’s baking chocolate bars. Even if you don’t use the best quality chocolate, please please please don’t use chocolate chips! They don’t melt quite right because they are meant to keep their shape when they bake in cookies. If you use quality chocolate you will still end up spending about $20ish. While it is a much cheaper than WS, it still isn’t cheap to make at home. It won’t have the same glossy finish and snap to it but it will still taste good! The one thing to really be careful about is not letting any water get into your chocolate. If something goes wrong and the chocolate refuses to set at room temperature, you can always just put it in the fridge to set. I explain how to temper chocolate in the recipe. Also they flavor the white candy melts vanilla, so it tastes sort of funky with both vanilla and peppermint going on at once. So why not use candy melts? Well you can but it doesn’t taste as good because it isn’t very good quality chocolate. ![]() If you have ever used candy melts, that is pre-tempered chocolate. Tempering your chocolate requires you to melt the chocolate and get it up to a certain temperature and then slowly cooling it and adding more untempered chocolate to stabilize the chocolate. You have to “temper” your chocolate in order to be able to store it at room temperature and have it not melt in your hand. However, you can’t just melt chocolate to get the two layers. And let me tell you….this really is a good copy cat! If you put it in a WS peppermint bark tin, you probably wouldn’t know the difference! The idea behind peppermint bark is really simple…just two layers of chocolate with peppermint flavor. I found this recipe in a Food Network magazine as a copycat of Williams-Sonoma’s Peppermint Bark. We used to buy the peppermint bark from Williams-Sonoma but it’s gotten so expensive there ($28.95!!) that I decided to try to make my own a few years ago. It has become a tradition in my house to have peppermint bark around the holidays. I’ve got another Christmas Yumminess Countdown recipe for y’all today! Peppermint infused, tempered semisweet and white chocolate topped with crushed candy canes.
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