Holiday Test: Peppermint Bark

One of my favourite holiday treats is peppermint bark. For some of my colleagues, I made a double chocolate peppermint bark this week to spread some holiday cheer. I tried to temper the chocolate so that it would not have to be refrigerated since I took it in to work. If you don't want to temper the chocolate, you can just melt it, but then the bark will need to be kept in the refrigerator and will melt easily when you touch it. I'm not sure if my tempering process worked as well as I hoped, but the bark turned out quite well and didn't melt when I left it out overnight.

The beginning of the tempering process for the white chocolate

Read the Ghirardelli directions and watch the video that is linked at the bottom. It is very helpful and makes the tempering process a lot easier than I previously expected. Thanks to Daffodil Lane for sharing this Chocolate Peppermint Bark on Flickr.




Final product!

 White and Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark

600 g Dark Chocolate
500 g White Chocolate
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
Crushed Candy Canes

Cover 2 jelly roll pans with wax paper.

Chop two-thirds of the dark chocolate into small pieces and place in a metal bowl, which will be used as the top part of a double boiler.

Heat water to hot, not boiling, in a medium-small sauce pan over medium-high heat. Place the bowl of chocolate over the pan. Stir chocolate constantly until it reaches between 110F and 115F. When it reaches the temperature, remove from heat and place on a towel. Then, stir in the rest of the chocolate (should be chopped, but only into medium pieces). Continue stirring until the chocolate is melted.

Spread chocolate onto the prepared pan in a thin layer. Let harden for 15-30 minutes. You can put it in the refrigerator to harden the chocolate faster.

Repeat the tempering process with the white chocolate. Once the white chocolate is tempered, mix in the peppermint extract and the crushed candy canes. Spread the white chocolate mixture over the hardened dark chocolate.  I sprinkled some of the extra candy cane pieces on top as well.