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.

Pot of Gold Chocolate Cups

I know I'm a dork, but I want to say "top o the morning" when I see this, or anything St Patrick's day related.  Having chocolate and ice cream would so make my morning.  And I just thought that if you cover it in Irish Cream it would be a really good morning, if not a blurry one, if you know what I mean.

  So I did a few St. Patrick's day related things before it got crazy around my house.  Pork Chop had been sick, home for 3 days and on some heavy medicine.  Hubby had not been feeling great, and I was just feeling run down.  My mood is getting a bit better, but I am still not 100% back to how I want to feel.  The weather is super crazy nice now, so it has to get better. Right?

  Anyway I made these cute chocolate cauldrons last week, and I swear I took pictures of them in the mold and what not, but cannot find them now.  So I am going to blame Hubby, he had to of done it, or a leprechaun.  I think Hubby is the more likely culprit, but you know, I have been wrong before.  (Don't tell Hubby!)

 So basically, I was at the baking warehouse buying a 50 pound box of candy melts, yes 50 pounds.  Which I dropped in the parking lot, right beside my car.  And then I spent about 10 minutes trying to lift it up again and get it into the back seat.  Good news, it did not open.  Bad news, I think my wrist gave out.  All was fine the next day, but I was so upset when I dropped it, what a waste of chocolate that would have been if it had opened.  Anyway, I saw this mold and thought "I need that"  Which I totally did, and you know  I don't ever say that about anything that I may not use.

  So I got the mold and the very next time I was working with candy melts, which was not long after, I tried it out.  The mold is on one sheet of plastic, so you have to cut it in half.  Then I half filled one side with melted candy melts and sort of moved it around.  Then I put the second half of the mold on and clipped it together with cloths pegs.  Then I rolled it all around to make sure the mold was covered on the sides and bottom, I left the top open.  Then I popped it into the fridge for a few minutes, then pulled it out and rotated it again then let it set up for good in the fridge.  It worked out well, there was a bit of leakage which you can removed with a hot knife.  I then put some chocolate mint ice cream in it, because it is green and it's what I had.  Then I ate it.

  Pork Chop wanted the little hat I used in the picture.  I actually picked up that hat in a pack of four at the dollar store.  I had no intention of using it for this, I wanted it so I could use it as a base to make a cute steam punk top hat.  But I had four so I let Pork Chop have one, on the condition that he let me take his picture.

This is the best one because he did not want to stop what he was doing, and kept making faces.  I even told him  I would be putting it on the blog, that just got angry faces, he was in no mood for pictures. Please ignore the fact my steam punk outfit is still sitting in my living room, it is too heavy to move to the basement again, so there it sits until it is finished.

This is our fairy door, for the tooth fairy.  I told Pork Chop that if he was bad and didn't let me take a good picture the leprechaun's would use it and come and pain his toes green or something.  He did not buy it.  He does have a tooth coming out, so at least he still believes in the tooth fairy.  Although he has a plan to catch her, he is mean like that.

So have a great St. Patrick's day, drink a green beer for me.  Hubby and I have a date night, we are going to the home show, without Pork Chop.  This is the first time ever without him.  His Uncle is coming to watch him while we have some adult time. And by adult time, I mean we will be out, and talking about Pork Chop the whole time.  Sigh, I love that little man.