Peppermint Bark

After reading LOTS of peppermint bark recipes I finally combined a couple and made some. Much to my surprise it worked and it tastes good! So if you like chocolate and peppermint - you need to try this Christmas candy!

1 12 ounce package chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk) I used milk chocolate
1 pound white chocolate or almond bark - I used almond bark
1/2 cup crushed candy canes or peppermint candy - I used a bit more

You can buy flavored bark or real chocolate. If you want your layers to stick to each other,
atleast one of the layers needs to be real chocolate. However, bark is a bit easier to melt and
not ruin...so I went with one of each. The bottom layer is the easiest so I used the bottom layer
as the real chocolate. You can do it however you want.

Line a 9x11 pan with aluminum foil. Spray. Spread your chocolate chips evenly on the bottom of
the pan. Slightly melt in the oven until you can spread them. Maybe 5 minutes on low heat. Using a spatula spread the chocolate evenly over the pan. Put in the refrigerator. It needs about 20 minutes to set up. Take it out of the refrigerator and let it warm up for 1-2 minutes
before you spread the next layer on so the layers bond together better.

Crush your candy canes. I recommend using a freezer bag (a sandwich bag is not durable enough) and crush them with a hammer, meat tenderizer, whatever you have that is heavy.

Melt the white layer. If you use real white chocolate you need a double boiler or use a metal bowl on top of a pan of water (don't let the bowl touch the water). If you use almond bark you can do it in the microwave or on the stove, follow the directions on the package it came in.

Mix some of the crushed candy cane (I used the real fine powder) into the melted white layer.
Spread on top of the chocolate layer. Then spread the rest of the crushed candy cane on top of
the white chocolate. Let it set in the refrigerator until completely hard. Then take the foil out
and break the candy into pieces.

Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator. I think it's easier to eat and tastes better if
it has set out on the counter for just a couple of minutes and warmed up just a bit - so I 'warm up' a couple of pieces every day!

The almond bark comes in a 1.2 pound package (or something like that). I bought a candy mold at Michaels for $2. I melted the left over almond bark and some extra crushed candy canes to make peppermint candy for the kids. They love them. They were so easy and set up really fast (5-10 minutes) in the fridge and popped out so easy. The kids like the shapes. It was easy and fun.

Enjoy!