I got this idea from the peppermint bark that Williams Sonoma sells around Christmas. It’s horribly expensive but so easy to make. I ended up showing a friend how to make it last year and the husband has been bugging me for it ever since. There’s now 2 pounds of bark in the cupboard for him, so he wont complain any longer.

I started with a pound of each semi-sweet chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. Did you know that white chocolate chips are not actually chocolate? Its made from cocoa butter and milk solids usually flavored with vanilla. Interesting tidbit there. Also some peppermint candies, a good handful or so.

I always start by melting the white chocolate first. I like to put the white chocolate on the bottom to keep it nice and smooth, plus its not as easy to spread as semi-sweet. You could always go for the marbled look, so then it doesn’t really matter what order you melt them in. I just happen to like the two toned look.

Once its all nice and smooth, remove the bowl from the heat and set aside to let it cool. Then its on to the candies.

Unwrap the candies and put them in a plastic bag. You want to beat them with something like a rolling pin, hammer, or meat mallet (like me). The towel just helps me to not break the bag as easily on the bottom and the cutting board is just so I don’t damage the counter top when I miss.

Now go ahead and make some noise… Get that aggression out.

You want to end up with some fine powdery bits as well as some chunks. Make sure the chunks aren’t too big or you might hurt a tooth biting into it.

Empty the bag of broken candy into a sifter and sift out the powdery bits. You want to keep both sizes separate since they have different places they are going to go.

Now we get to the good stuff.

Mix the candy powder into the white chocolate, stirring until completely incorporated. The chocolate should be nice and smooth still but much cooler. I like adding the powder to the white chocolate not only for mint flavor but also for the color. It looks awesome having little colorful specs in the milky white.

Now you need to spread the white chocolate onto a cookie sheet.
I like using a 10″ x 15″ cookie sheet for this, that way it’s not too thick or thin. Try to get it as even as possible. At least I try to get it as even as possible. That’s just because I’m crazy.

I still think having a marble look to it would be awesome to try. That way you don’t have to be neat!

Now set the pan aside and let it harden, it shouldn’t take too long since it was already mostly cooled. Once the white chocolate has hardened, start melting the rest of the chocolate in the same way.

There is a point during the melting process that you have to watch out for. It’s called the “husband wants chocolate” side effect. By this time, the yummy smell of the chocolate has started going through the rest of the house, tempting him to come out of hiding and try to stick a spoon or pretzels in the melted chocolate.

Banish him to the other room until it’s done. Trust me.

After the chocolate has melted, quickly and gently spread it evenly over the white chocolate. If you work gently enough you wont have any streaks in your chocolate.

Add the larger chunks of peppermint from earlier onto the top of the chocolate. Try to spread it evenly around so that every bite will have a nice amount of mint in it.

Let it sit and harden in a cool place for about an hour or so, or stick it in the fridge for a few minutes to help it harden up quicker.

When it is finally hard, twist the pan slightly (I have cheap pans so they warp and bend easily), hopefully your chocolate will dislodge and you can flip it out of the pan. Break it into smaller pieces like you would peanut brittle and store in an air tight container.

Yum!

Now the husband will be happy.

This has happened to me more than a few times. Mostly with these lovely home made marshmallows.

Yes! You can actually make marshmallows at home. However they are completely different than anything you buy at the store. The store bought varieties are usually very firm, chewy, and while they taste good they remind me of chewing on rubber.

If you have ever had a home made marshmallow, you will be instantly spoiled and be hard pressed to eat a store bought one again. They are sweet, tender, and melt in your mouth.

Most people don’t realize that marshmallows can be made by hand. Of course they can, they had to be invented somewhere, likely in someone’s kitchen. It just seems so out of place for them to be made by hand now since it’s rare for someone to do so. They just think the rubber they buy in the store is the only way to get their fix.

Not true, and the best way to surprise your friends is to make them the best home made marshmallows ever.

Marshmallows
Makes a whole lot of them…

Ingredients:

• 2 (about 1/4 ounce) envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 3/4 cup hot water
• 1 cup light corn syrup, divided
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Lightly butter a 9 x 13” baking pan; set aside. In a small bowl, combine gelatin and cold water. Stir with a spoon until very thick. Allow to stand 5 minutes.
2. In a 2 quart sauce pan, combine hot water, 1/2 cup of the corn syrup and the sugar. Place over high heat and stir with a wooden spoon until mixture comes to a boil. If sugar crystals are present, wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush. Clip on a candy thermometer. Cook to 238ºF. Remove from heat and stir in remaining corn syrup.

Using a candy thermometer is the best way to make these until you have mastered the art of sugar, or at least become familiar with it. Less chance of mistakes that way.

3. Pour into medium size bowl. Using an electric mixer at high speed beat the hot syrup, adding gelatin mixture 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until all gelatin is incorporated, candy is thick and has cooled to lukewarm, about 10 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Pour into prepared pan.



At this point, you can use either a hand held mixer, or a stand mixer like I have. Turn it on and let it rip until the mixture cools and it becomes bigger and fluffy like my example. And even though I know its tempting, don’t stick your finger in the fluff after you pour it in the pan, you’ll just get your fingers stuck and little “mountains” in your mallows.

4. Cool 3 hours or until marshmallow is firm enough to cut. Using a knife dipped in hot water, cut marshmallows into pieces roughly 1” square. Roll cut marshmallows in powdered sugar to prevent sticking.

Rolling the marshmallows in powered sugar is the dirtiest part of the job. I usually end up covered in the sugar and making a mess of the whole kitchen. After a while you get the hang of the cutting and dipping.

The easiest way to do this is to dust the top of the marshmallows in sugar first, then pull them away from the sides of the pan, letting a little sugar make its way down the sides as well. Flip the pan onto a cutting board (plastic preferably) dusted with powdered sugar and pull out the marshmallow carefully. Dust the top with sugar and now they are fully out of the pan and waiting to be cut and rolled in sugar.

It really should not be that hard. The hardest part of the job is rolling in sugar, but even that part is fun. If you have done it right, you should have made a mountain of marshmallows!

They are even more dangerous when dipped in chocolate.

For my first foray into the little bites section of my cooking experience, I give dessert: Dark Chocolate Truffles.

I love making these and part of me is posting these not only for the fact that I’m loving the idea of finger foods, but also because I had a coworker who would always ask me when I would next be making them. I saw him again this week, unfortunately he didn’t see me. He isn’t a coworker any longer since he suddenly lost his sight last year. He’s a cool guy and I’ve been wanting to post these while they were on the brain.

Truffles bare the same name as the funky looking mushroom that we consider a delicacy and spend LOTS of money on. I really don’t think I’ve ever eaten a real truffle, but I am quite content with the dessert look-a-like version.

My version pictured doesn’t actually look like a truffle, they are usually round or misshapen to resemble their namesakes. I just thought it was going to be easier to just cut them in squares instead of shaping them. Really its just because I’m lazy.

You can coat them in anything that you want. I think my favorite is just cocoa powder or powdered sugar. But they can be covered in sprinkles, toasted nuts or shredded coconut. In the recipe I mix milk chocolate and semi-sweet, I think it makes a great combo since just semi-sweet can be quite powerful along with dusting them in cocoa powder.

Ingredients:
Makes 60+ pieces, depending on size.

• 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup whipping cream
• Small pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• Cocoa powder for dusting

1. Line an 9×13 inch baking pan with plastic wrap; set aside.
2. Place chocolate in a double boiler and begin melting.
3. In a small sauce pan, warm the cream and remove from heat before boiling. Let stand for 5 minutes then add vanilla and salt. Add cream to the melting chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted and the cream incorporated.
4. Pour into prepared pan and refrigerate 6 hours or until firm. Invert the pan on a cutting board, the truffles should come out easily. Remove plastic wrap and cut into 1 inch squares. Coat with cocoa powder and store in refrigerator.