It was my friends birthday today. She asked me to come over to teach her how to make peppermint bark. It is very easy and makes great holiday gifts.
Melt 3 cups of either white or dark chocolate in a double boiler on medium heat. While the chocolate melts, crush 4-5 candy canes in a Ziploc bag. The easiest way I've found to do this is to place it on a cutting board and lay a dish towel over the plastic bag. Hit it with a meat pounder until it it thoroughly crushed and dust-like.
When the chocolate has melted add in 1 Tbs. of peppermint oil, and half of the crushed candy canes, stir to combine.
Pour the mixture onto a Silpat lined cookie sheet and spread until 1/2" on thickness. Sprinkle the remaining candy cane dust to to the top of the bark and let cool. Once cool, cut with a knife into 3-4" pieces.
We made white and dark chocolate bark today.
We also made a really yummy tart. She made pate brise (dough) from scratch, but I would use the DuFour Puff Pastry, or you could even use a pie crust and brush it with a little olive oil and kosher salt.
Anyhow... she chopped and cleaned 2 leeks, then sauteed them with about 7 slices of chopped proscuitto in a little olive oil on medium high heat. Once the leeks were soft (about 8 minutes) we added in a pinch of ground black pepper and removed the pan from the heat.
She placed the dough in a tart pan and added lemon infused shredded cheese. We wanted to use goat cheese, but didn't have any. You could really use any kind of a hard cheese, and even mix the,- gruyere, goat, parmesan, aged gouda.
Mix in 1/2 C. of prepared olive tapenade to the leek mixture and spread over the cheese. Finish with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese and bake in a 425 degree oven for 35 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
I was thinking this would also be delicious with some sun-dried tomatoes, and some slivers of asparagus and toasted pine nuts.
I was very inspired by today's tart and can't wait to play around with some different variations.
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