sweet thing

Christmas is sheer delight simply because it provides a great excuse to make and ingest tons of candy. People pass out candy canes like coupons and share chocolates like air, and our belts complain loudly. And it is so worth it.

My number-one favorite holiday candy has always been peppermint bark. Put away the divinity, for heaven’s sake, and the pecan turtles and chocolate-covered cherries (those are just for my Daddy Tom, anyway) -- I could scarf down a full pound of peppermint bark and never be quite satisfied. Something about the crunchy mint and the creamy chocolate is more potent than the best gin. And infinitely more addictive.

I’ve always associated it with those pricey gift baskets grateful patients and cloying pharmaceutical reps shower on my doctor dad. You know, the ones full of smoked cheddar and logs of sausage and grapefruit and, occasionally, those shiny tins of peppermint bark from somewhere fancy like Williams-Sonoma. And thus, I’ve always thought of my precious PB as a bit expensive, a bit rare, a bit… riche.

Then I look it up on foodnetwork.com and realize it’s just white chocolate and crushed peppermints. Hey, I can make that, and so can you! Except I prefer PB with a backbone of semisweet to balance out the tongue-numbing sweetness of white chocolate, so my version just happens to be even better than Mr. Sonoma’s.

Peppermint Bark

2 packages white chips
2 packages semisweet chips
12 candy canes, crushed*

Line a big, flat pan with wax paper. Melt the semisweet chocolate over a double boiler (I don’t even know if they sell real ones anymore… just plop a metal bowl over a pan of boiling water) and pour into the pan, spreading evenly. Stick in the fridge for about 45 minutes to cool and harden the chocolate.

Melt the white chocolate in the same way, then stir in the peppermint. Spread the mixture over the cooled dark chocolate, then stick back in the fridge for an hour or so. Lift the wax paper out of the pan, break off giant hunks, and curl up on the couch to eat a plateful.

*This is by FAR the most enjoyable part of the process! Put the canes in a big ziploc bag, cover with a dish towel, then hunker down on the garage floor with a hammer and go to town. Pieces should range from dust-particle-size to pea-size.