Brittles, Barks & Bonbons: Marbled Peppermint Bark

Cover recipe from Brittles, Barks & Bonbons by Charity Ferreira, copyright 2008
Marbled Peppermint Bark
I was very excited to find this little cookbook.  On clearance at my local Marshalls, the title and cute, pink cover immediately caught my eye.  For $4.99, I tucked it into my basket and eagerly brought it home.  The official title is, “Brittles, Barks & Bonbons- Delicious Recipes for Quick and Easy Candy.”  I thought it would be a great source for holiday goodies.  There are a few classics included… Old Fashioned Peanut Brittle, Almond Toffee, Chocolate Truffles, and there are a few recipes that look really great to try… Striped Butter Mints, Vanilla Sea Salt Caramels, Malted Milk Chocolate Truffles and  Spicy Pepita Brittle.  But where this cookbook goes wrong is in the numerous recipes that call for melted chocolate that simply cover things… like graham crackers, fruit and marshmallows or the “barks” that instruct you to melt chocolate with a bunch of ingredients thrown in.  Very strange.  That being said, there do look like there are some good recipes to try in the book- things that are actually creatively thought out.  If you’re a complete and total beginner in this area, I suppose this book might appeal to you. 

There were four recipes on the cover.  I chose to try the Marbled Peppermint Bark, but I wish I had tried the Striped Butter Mints.  See my notes below…

Marbled Peppermint Bark
Source:  Brittles, Barks & Bonbons

ingredients:
1 lb. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 cup finely crushed candy cane pieces

instructions:
1.  Line a jelly-roll pan with wax paper.  Melt chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of hot water, stirring frequently until melted and smooth.  Remove from the heat.
2.  In another bowl, melt the white chocolate using the same method.
3.  Stir 3/4 cup of the candy can pieces into the dark chocolate.  Scrape the mixture onto the pan and spread out with a spatula to about 1/4-inch thick.  Drizzle the white chocolate evenly over the dark chocolate; use a knife to gently swirl the dark and white chocolates together, leaving plenty of distict streaks.  Sprinkle the remaining crushed candy canes evenly over the top.
4.  Refrigerate the bark until completely firm, about 2 hours.  Break or cut into chunks.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Notes from Culinary Covers:
*I melted my chocolate in short bursts in the microwave (as I always do), and it worked out just fine.
*I wish I had used a sharp knife to cut this into shards rather than break it apart.  It would have looked better.
*Anyone can make this recipe.  It’s a “bark” recipe for beginners, I suppose you could say.
*I’ve had mine in the freezer for a couple of weeks now and it has stored just fine in the freezer.
*It’s hard to say whether or not I really liked this recipe.  It’s melted chocolate with candy canes on top… so I suppose it was good because I like melted chocolate and candy canes, but I wouldn’t make it again.  If you’re looking for a good recipe for Peppermint Bark, this recipe is much, much better.

Did this recipe deserve the cover?  Definitely “No.”  Though the title touts that the recipes are for quick and easy candy, this so-called recipe is just ridiculous.  Anyone can melt some chocolate and throw candy canes on top.  Where is the creativity?  The recipe is fine to throw in the cookbook in a section labeled, “really, really easy recipes,” or something like that, but for the cover of the book- it doesn’t deserve any sort of spotlight.

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