I've been amazed and impressed with how many of my friends have been churning out various holiday cookies for the past few weeks. Baking has never come easy to me and quite frankly it's not my favorite. I guess I have a little Rachael Ray in me. For those of you who have purchased flavored chocolate barks once you see how easy, quick and cheap flavored barks are to make I promise you will never spend the money on bark from Whole Foods or as I say Whole paycheck. My favorite are peppermint and orange.
All you need:
Chocolate chips (white/dark)
Extracts (I use orange and peppermint but not together)
orange zest
candy canes
zester
double broiler
a glass of wine (required whenever I twirl in my kitchen)
In a regular pot, fill the bottom with about two inches and simply simmer on low. Then place a glass pyrex dish on top and gently melt the chocolate. Melt in about a tablespoon of extract.
Pour warm chocolate on parchment paper and sprinkle with orange zest if you are using orange extract or broken up candy canes if using peppermint. Place in freezer for an hour then break into pieces. A gourmet looking treat for just pennies.
Barks are quite possibly the easiest candy EVER. I've not done any with extracts, but I'm a big fan of white chocolate + dried cranberries + pecans. Just melt the chocolate and when it's all nice and smooth, throw enough enough fruit and nuts so that it looks right - I never measure. Pour onto your parchment papered cookie sheet, etc.
ReplyDeleteAlso good: milk chocolate + peanuts + pretzels. Basically any combo of sweet and/or salty mix-ins's will do - fruit, nuts, other snack foods, other candies. Crushed Oreos are a good one, too.
I'll even do barks for Halloween. I made one this year that used Shrek-green colored white chocolate with peanuts, pretzels and these little white bone shaped candies made by Wilton.