Oreo Bark and My Hospital stay

See how cute they turned out?  Keep reading and you will be surprised that  they did.  I sure was.

  So I had this post all ready to go earlier in the week, I actually have a whole bunch ready.  But then Wednesday at work I got sick and had to go to the hospital.  I just got home, and I am trying to get something in my tummy before I have a shower, oh how I missed my shower. So I thought I would pop on and let you all know my exciting news.  I had a bowel twist or obstruction, we are not 100% sure.  Now part of me thinks I must have the worst luck in the world.  The other part of me is just happy I did not end up needing surgery and I am going to be home for the holidays.  We were not sure what was going to happen.  All I know is the pain was worse than labour and I didn't get a cute baby at the end.  Oh well.  So at least I have my posts all lined up to go so I can put them up and relax and try to enjoy the fact I am home.  I had plans to make a desert for Christmas diner and share that night, because it looks so good.  It may not happen, we will see if I can talk Hubby into making it and I can take credit for it, unless he screws it up more than I would, then I am totally telling you all he made it.

  So please have a great holiday and I will be on over my days off, what else is a girl to do when she has to rest right?  Now please enjoy my pre written post on the joys of screwing up your holiday baking.

  I have been seeing chocolate bark on the blogs I visit for a long time now.  I loved the idea of it, but did not like the look of the large chunky pieces.  I like small and uniform and the stuff I saw was not small, or uniform.  Now to tell you that I now understand why they make bark the way they do, well lets just say I had an A Ha moment.

  I decided that for the holidays I would make Oreo bark in my silicone gingerbread man mold.  Firstly I am happy how it turned out, but I will definitely change how I do it next time. Secondly there must be someone watching out for me, because I was so close to just tossing it all out. It would have been a big waste of chocolate and time.  And you can never get that chocolate back.  The time, well not so important.

Oreo Bark

-1 bag of Oreos ( I used double stuffed)
-white and milk chocolate candy melts, about 3 cups

My nice set up, before I almost tore my hair out.

  So I put the Oreos in a plastic bag and smashed them with a meat tenderizer.  First mistake, they got all gloppy, maybe because they were double stuffed but I had a hard time getting them out of the bag.  Also the pieces were still so big it was hard to get into the mold.  So next time I use a food processor to get it done.

At least I got to get some frustrations out.

See more smooshy than crushed.

I then melted my white melts ( you can do either first, just do whichever kind you want on the top of your bark first)  I then mixed in half of the crushed Oreos and mixed them together.

Oh well, it was too late now, so I just stirred it all together.

Now looking at this you would think it would be okay.  And  you would be wrong, it was far from okay.

  I then put them in a disposable piping bag, you can always use a zip lock bag, but we don't have zip lock bags big enough in this house for some reason.  I then cut off the end and piped the filling into my mold.  Here is where the frustration began.  The Oreos were so big they clogged up the piping bag and they would not fit perfectly into the mold.  So I was frustrated, may have said some bad words.  I may have had to tell my son that I did not just say what he thought I said.  And I may have wanted to toss it out the window. 

  So I filled them as best I could and tapped the mold on the table to get the chocolate to settle. Then I put it in the fridge while I got the other layer ready.  I started by going back and bashed the remaining Oreos some more, still it did no good.  I mixed the remaining Oreo's into the melted milk chocolate candy melts and put it in a new disposable piping bag.  Again my bag got all clumpy and I ended up using a pallet knife to try and get the filling nice and level.  It didn't work, and the backs looked horrible and I thought  I was going to cry.  I did have a little extra chocolate left over and made a small puddle of traditional bark on a plate.  Can I just say how easy it was?  Well I am an idiot and that is all I have to say about that.  And I did not have enough milk chocolate so I just left a few men with one layer, I was not going to do any more, I was so done with this.

Redemption!  Cutest bark ever!

  I know right!  All that trouble and cursing and what not and they worked out.  Only next time I will blend those Oreos to smithereens, and we will all be happy.

  I did end up eating the extra puddle of bark but you know what, my gingerbread men look so cute! And if you wanted you could even decorate them with sprinkles, but I was too frustrated and had eaten too much bark to care by that point.

  Oh boy am I glad the holidays are almost over.

  And can I just say this is the reason I hate trying new things, if they don't work out exactly like I plan I may end up hurting someone.  And Hubby thinks that him losing a body part is not worth the cookies, chocolate or whatever.  But he is a wimp, so I don't really listen to him anyway.