Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Candy Cane Bark And A Winner



So it is getting to be really cold here and that puts me in the mood for some yummy treats. And that right there is a fib, I don't need cold weather to have treats but it sure does make for a good excuse to eat and make them. Don't you think? Well anyway I made some really simple chocolates and I promptly brought them to work. Can you believe I didn't eat even one? Well such is life when you have too many good things to eat all at once. This was a nice quick treat it took all of 10 minutes to make and I got to let Pork Chop beat up some helpless candy. All in all you cannot beat that.
These little candy canes were a real pain to unwrap.

Pork Chop had a good time crushing them, he was all "die you candy cane scum!"  And I am not even joking, that is what he was saying.

  So to make this you need three things, chocolate, candy canes and a chocolate mold. You don't even need the mold if you plan to do a traditional bark, where you just spread the chocolate out on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. But since I have a million chocolate molds and I hate to break up chocolate bark and have it all different sizes and stuff, I did it my way. The only thing I would do differently would be to buy either the pre crushed candy canes or buy the larger ones. The tiny ones I was using were a real pain to unwrap. But other than that it was super easy.
There were a few larger bits left, which was okay as I was too lazy to to anything about it really.

I tried a few molds, but the plastic one was not the best for two layers, as the first one set and I tried to pipe the second layer on and tap the mold the chocolates would pop out.  So silicon is best for this.

That right there is just a big blob of chocolate and candy.

 So to start you want to crush up your candy canes and set them aside. I really don't have amounts for you as I was just doing a bit. But you want enough candy cane in your chocolate so that you can see it and taste it. Once you have your candy cane ready you melt your chocolate. I like to have the white chocolate on the top of my candy, so that is what you start with. Melt your chocolate and mix in some of the candy cane. I didn't add too much but it made the chocolate nice and thick. I put it in a disposable piping bag and snipped off the end. Then I put a thin layer in my molds. I made sure to tap the mold to settle the chocolate and make sure there were no bubbles. I put them all on a cookie sheet and put the whole thing into the freezer. Since it was small molds and a thin layer it didn't take long for it to set.
It gets sort of lumpy but that is no problem.

All ready to pipe.

see how tidy I was this time?  I know I am surprised too.

And the second layer.

This mold was very thin so I just did the white candy and it was perfect.

 While the first layer is freezing you want to melt your second chocolate. I have seen where the bark only has the mint in the first layer but I wanted to use up all the candy I had crushed, so I mixed it into the second layer of chocolate too. I did exactly t he same thing that I did with the first layer, making sure to tap the mold well as I went because the cold chocolate would make the new chocolate set really fast. So that was it. I let it set and when it was hard I just popped out the candy and felt happy that they were so cute. I put them in a container and left them in the fridge as our house gets hot with the heater on. And that was it, I took them to work and they were a hit. Which is nice because sometimes the easiest things are the best.
These are nice and thin.

These ones just look weird, they were from the plastic mold.

I am in love with these little ones, the mold was small but deep just perfect!

And with that done, now we have the results of my give away.  I had a total of  28 entries, and so I just used random.org and let it do it's thing. And the winning number from all the entries was  6 , which is Betsy (pharmgirl)  So thanks all for entering.  Betsy I will try to email you and then we can get this out to you.  If I for some reason cannot get a hold of Betsy in the next 48 hours we will have to move onto another winner.

HungryLittleGirl
The DIY Dreamer
Lil\'Luna
It's Overflowing
Home Stories A2Z
Our Delightful Home
Love Bakes  Good Cakes
Back for Seconds
The Mandatory Mooch
HookingupwithHoH
I'm Lovin' It at TidyMom

21 comments:

Lisa Rukin Swift said...

These are so pretty, Sue! The flecks of color against the white chocolate looks so festive!

Kendra said...

Your peppermint bark looks so yummy! I would love it if you would share this on my very first Whisk Away Wednesday Linky Party today, at http://www.kreativecreationz.com. I can't wait to see you there!

Kendra said...

Your peppermint bark looks so yummy! I would love it if you would share this on my very first Whisk Away Wednesday Linky Party today, at http://www.kreativecreationz.com. I can't wait to see you there!

Connie Mercer said...

It looks good:):) no excuses here either I'm always up for a treat!!!

betsy (pharmgirl) said...

another yummy post! thank you so much for the giveaway Sue!

Paula said...

So neat that you did the peppermint bark in little molds. They are so cute. I've unwrapped a lot of candy canes before and you are right...they are a pain, but eating this bark certainly would not be :)

Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust said...

I love these! Mmmmm....bark. YUM!

Erin said...

Love your candy cane bark. I like the ones with chocolate on the bottom. They look so cool!

Unknown said...

Looks yummy--and fun to make!

Alison Wood
http://pintsizedtreasures.com/

Christin@FortMillSCLiving said...

Love these! I've always wanted to buy some of those cute mods, but I didn't know what to do with them. Especially like the snowmen. Too cute!

Jocie@TheBetterHalf said...

This looks so yummy and so unique compared to other barks!

You may have heard, but we are giving away a SIlhouette Cameo along with free ad space every week at our link party. Would love if you stopped by! http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/giveaway-and-the-humble-brag-link-party-10/

Love Bakes Good Cakes said...

I love peppermint bark and I love the idea of making it myself. The molds made it so cute! Thank you for sharing at this week's All my Bloggy Friends.

Kendra said...

Thank you for stopping by my Whisk Away Wednesday Linky Party and sharing your Candy Cane Bark recipe! I hope to see you at the next Whisk Away Wednesday! Have a great week!

Tam said...

How did you make your peppermint patties look so good> (last year's post) I try making them and it's a PITA trying to cover them. Should I have left them in a ball shape instead of flattening them first?

Sue @ Cakeballs, cookies and more said...

Tam did you freeze them, then only take a few out at a time to dip? They warm up really fast so I work like 4 at a time, it's a pain to keep going back and forth to the freezer but that makes for perfect shapes. Hope that helps:)

Tam said...

They hate me. LOL I saw the recipe elsewhere, too, which said to let them dry a little. YOu're supposed flip them to let both sides dry but that's a pain so just one side dried a bit while I was doing something else. And I still put them in the freezer. And maybe my chocolate isn't runny enough to make it faster and easier? And maybe I should make them thicker, too?

sue @ Cakeballs, cookies and more said...

They don't hate you, they just know they are going to be eaten so they don't want that, so they act mean;p How firm is the mint filling you are making? I make mine like play d'oh so it really doesn't spread much or at all really. and then my chocolate is the candy melts, what kind are you using? And i make mine like blobs now, no flattening them out, only because I like more mint and less chocolate. Which is weird because I love chocolate.

HungryLittleGirl said...

They look so beautiful and delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this at Wednesday Extravaganza - Hope to see you there again tomorrow with more deliciousness :)

Tam said...

I make it pretty stiff. They don't really spread but the patties will start to flop over the tines on the fork. LOL I've used choc. chips, but I've also used some dipping choc. melts (not the Wilton ones). I don't think my chocolate is runny enough to dip quickly and properly. LOL

Sue @ Cakeballs, cookies and more said...

Okay I had that problem when I made them the first time, the patties were so thin that they would thaw out within seconds, so maybe if you can make them thicker that would help. and I find candy melts are the easiest to work with, if your using something else, add some shortening to thin it out a bit. I really hope it works for you because they are so good. Worst case, can you use a chocolate mold? Fill it with chocolate to coat it, then pour the rest out then freeze it. Then fill it with the mint, and then top it off with chocolate?

The Mandatory Mooch said...

So fun and festive!! Thanks for linking up to Tasty Thursdays at The Mandatory Mooch. Can't wait to see what you link up this week. Thanks, Nichi