Monday 23 December 2013

Share Advent: Recipe - Peppermint Bark

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I am not such a fan of Christmas presents. I've been mulling it over quite a bit in the last few weeks, thinking about what Christmas means to me. It's not the presents themselves that I object to. It's the hype that comes with it all. We seem to be moving away from the winter festivals and celebrations of light, the bringing together of family and friends, the sense of being grateful for what we have, and a quiet optimism about the coming year. That saddens me. I have really come around to the notion that maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store - maybe Christmas means a little bit more.

As I mentioned in the other post, this year I am trying to personalise presents - choosing things that are either practical or beautiful. Or tasty. Or combinations of the three.

It was in the spirit of this notion Mr F and I spent several nights this week playing with chocolate. As well as some fruit and nut concoctions, we also made quite a lot of peppermint bark.
I love the bright pink candy canes against the dark chocolate
Makes 1 large slab
1 bar good quality dark chocolate
1 bar good quality white chocolate 
3 striped peppermint candy canes

Melt your dark chocolate. Either do this in a bowl over boiling water (making sure you don't get water in the bowl), or in the microwave (making sure you do it slowly, stirring in any last few chunks of unmelted chocolate. If overheated, it'll burn and become gritty and bitter). 
Pour it into Tupperware - about 0.5cm thick. You can either do one huge piece, and break it up into shards, or a couple of smaller slabs, depending on how you like your presentation. Allow to cool for half an hour at room temperature. 
Meanwhile, bash up the candy canes. I find it easiest to put them in a sandwich bag and whack them with a rolling pin.
Melt your white chocolate. 
Drizzle the white chocolate on top. 
Sprinkle over the candy canes. 
Leave at room temperature to cool before wrapping. Store out of the fridge in a cool dark place. 


2 comments:

  1. That really is pretty. I hope your lucky recipients appreciate it.

    I have been burnt by my one attempt to make Christmas presents - I made tomato chutney, packaged it all beautifully and tied a fancy spoon to each kilner. And no-one so much as tried it! It was actually very good and I was quite hurt. Never again!

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  2. I really wanted to make food presents this year but the move made that super tricky. Maybe next year? (I do say that every year though). Peppermint bark is high up on my food gifts to try and make though. Hope you have a great Christmas!

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