While a LARGE amount of my money is funneled into Williams Sonomas glorious pockets, it will not be going to the purchase of their ridiculously expensive Peppermint Bark. Yes it is heavenly..but come on..us food savvy people can make our own for a fraction of the price. Sure, we wont be getting the cute trendy Holiday Tin to go along with it. But who the hell cares. Yours will be made with love people!!! All you need is love, all you need is love, love is all you need( cant you hear me singing in my best John Lennon?) Ohhh, how I love to sing, you might have seen me on American Idol 3 season ago..I made it in the top 50. HAAAAAAAAAAA. I kid…I know my family is peeing in their pants right now..Seriously, I suck a singing. If I went on American Idol, I would be one of those people in the blooper reel that Simon is ripping a new one!!! Enough rambling.tooooo much coffee this morning!!
Lets make some BARK.
16 oz white chocolate, finely chopped (NOT WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS)
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tsp Peppermint extract
6 oz peppermint candies
Line a 13 x 9 baking pan with foil( use non stick foil), make sure you let the sides overhang so you can pull the bark out when its done.
In a heavy duty zip lock bag, crush the peppermints
In a double boiler, melt the dark chocolate, peppermint extract and whipping cream and stir until smooth
Pour the dark chocolate into the baking pan and evenly smooth out.
Place in the fridge for about 15 minutes to firm.
In a double boiler, melt the white chocolate and stir until smooth.
Remove the dark chocolate from the fridge and with a paper towel, blot off and moisture that has accumulated on the top.
Pour the white chocolate over the dark chocolate.
Sprinkle the peppermint candies over the white chocolate.
Place in fridge to firm for about 1 hour.
Remove and cut to your desired shape and size.
Yummy! You have a beautiful family! I am posting the same giveaway.
Heeeeeavenly bark!!
Its absolutely gorgeous!
You’re right! It’s so much better to make the stuff than paying extra for a fancy tin. Nice work.
FABULOUS! And SO easy!!!
Totally awesome! What a great gift idea! And I know just the place to get my own fancy tins for a really great price.
Making your own peppermint bark is so much fun and yes, way easier on the pocket! I made my own a few years ago and put them in little snowman jars. Tasted exactly like the expensive Williams Sonoma candy, but you spend a lot less and get a lot more! Great job on your candy – it looks fabulous!
MMMMMM I love William Sonoma bark! Thanks for posting this!
Leslie, I’d pay for your pepp-bark..but Canadian dollars! lol
This would be great to give away as part of my christmas cookie gifts. Yum!
let’s not even start with how much money I spend at Williams Sonoma–I get in sooo much trouble for doing so.
you know your photos are way better than WS, nice job here Les.
I LOVE that stuff at Williams Sonoma but you’re right – I’d rather make it myself! Looks delicious. Oh, and beautiful blog makeover!
omgod lovely! thank you for sharing 🙂 i was just looking for bark recipes for gifts for the holidays!
That looks beautiful… and delicious! And you’re right, why buy it when you can easily make it at home for so much less?
Now I have that song in my head 🙂
I’ve never made peppermint bark, but I love to eat it. May be time to change that!
Looks amazing! I’ll have to make it before my husband comes home; he’s allergic to peppermint!
Ooh, I love the chcoolate layer on the bottom. I’ve only ever seen it with white chocolate. Love it!
Love the bark!
I love the homemade version over the store bought any day. Yours look like they are perfection on a plate. I am hopelessly addicted to these and the toffee bark, so I these would not last long in my house, but I do hope I get some for Christmas this year! Hope you are doing good Leslie!
This is going to be firs ton the list of things I make this winter! Thank!~ [:
I made something similar last year. Yours looks very yummy. Much closer to the W-S version. Thanks for sharing your recipe. I’m going to use yours instead of the recipe I have.
Seeing as we are talking about W-S, have you seen any of those peppermint sticks that they have dipped in dk chocolate? I just want the sticks.
~ingrid
I make this every year. It is so easy! I can’t believe people pay an arm and a leg for the WS stuff!!
That looks like the way I make them too… irresistable!
I love the new header and your new pictures!
I’m cracking up! I’m always tempted to pick up the bark at Crate and Barrel but know I can make it myself…yet never do! This looks wonderful!
I’m having a party next weekend, maybe I can impress everyone with some of this!
One of my weeknesses is this exact thing, good lord, it’s so beautiful!
mmm… i just love chocomint… great after dinner treat… 🙂
yeah…i could literally eat this entire batch in one day. seriously. this stuff is like crack to me, and up until now i’ve been able to resist making it. so thanks–i blame you for those five pounds coming my way. 🙂
OMG that looks yummy. I just got the WS catalog the other day and did think … wow that’s pricey for a small tin like that.
We tried to make it a couple years ago and did something wrong. I may have to use your recipe and try again.
I was searching the internet for peppermint bark recipes and I found this post. The addition of the whipping cream caught my eye, I’d not seen that in other recipes. I’m definitely going to try this!
Thanks!
Malia
I love peppermint bark!
Stop by my blog when you get a chance for an award. 🙂
Hey, Leslie, I made this tonight. I’m not sure what I may have done wrong but the two different chocolate layers did not really stick together well. Not as nicely as in your photos. I also needed another 6oz of white chocolate to cover the dark chocolate though that may have been becuase my white chocolate would not really soften to a pourable consistancy. Any secrets to melting it? Don’t get me wrong it tastes YUMMY, it’s just not as “pretty” as yours. Thanks for the recipe. I’m gonna give it another try in a week or so.
~ingrid
Love it. I could eat pounds of the stuff. I made a similar recipe last year & it was a big hit too.
I make this every year but with out the dark chocolate bottom. I might just have to try it this year!
This is so much better than just regular plain candy canes!!
I just blogged about peppermint bark and how excited I am to make it this weekend. Your post is making me so happy-it turned out great!
You guys are way too cute making faces and all. What a wonderful family you are.
I make peppermint bark every year and my youngest tends to steal it all.
Savvy indeed! Looks delish!
This looks fantastic! And by the way, I love the new look. Beautiful!
Gorgeous! Yum!!!!!!
Leslie, I can’t agree with you more! I proudly left their store last Saturday without the peppermint bark (although it looked so tempting) but with a ridiculously overpriced acorn-cakelet mold 🙂
That looks really good. I’ve never made mine with brown choc. before. I’m for sure making this!
I bought a tin of peppermint bark to give friends last weekend. It didn’t even occur to me to make it myself! Yours looks even better than the one I bought!
i made a batch of this last night, and plan on making another batch tonight. this bark will be part of our christmas care packages we are giving out as presents this year. i absolutely fell in love with this bark. at first i thought it was going to be softer, but then it firmed up and had such a wonderful creamy texture. much better than crispy chocolate bark in my opinion. thank you so much for posting this recipe. i can’t wait for my friends to try it.
I’m so thankful I found your recipe, I’ve been wanting to make bark for a few years now and wanted to make one with dark and white chocolate. Gotta love google that’s how I found this recipe. I’m a novice in the kitchen and I think I did a pretty good job. This recipe is great. Although I did use chips for the white chocolate due to my budget but all Giradelli it seemed to turn out great. Thank you for the delicious recipe. Like you, I have been tempted by the WS bark but the price is just too steep, now I will never be temped again and will enjoy time in the kitchen making this simple bark. I’ll now be looking at your site for more recipes. Happy Holidays!
Looks amazing and I have seen so many other blogs that cite to our recipe! I LOVE peppermint bark and it is so expensive to purchase so making it is a great option. If you are looking for a new way to use the bark try it in place of chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Check out the one on my blog: http://hiphostess.wordpress.com/2008/12/23/peppermint-bark-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Thanks for the post!
I just made this peppermint bark and it was fantastic!! I mixed about 1/3 of the crushed candy canes into the white chocolate before spreading it over the dark chocolate 🙂
p.s. your blog is hilarious – love the pics!