Christmas Baking- Day 3

Penny Wenny's Original Peppermint Pretzel Bark

Now I don't meant to toot my own horn, but I think I created a little piece of heaven today. Seriously. My mom and sister inspired me with the idea without even knowing it. We all went and saw Tron the other night (courtesy of my generous big brother) and my sister Amanda passed around some of her yummy homemade Christmas candies for us to chomp on during the action. One bag had butter toffee (recipe from PW coming soon), another had both chocolate pretzel bark, and white chocolate peppermint bark. My mom commented to my sister after the flick that her bark had broken so she just held the two pieces together as she ate. We kinda laughed at her because they weren't meant to go together; they were two different candies that just happened to be in the same bag. But here's the kicker- they are SO meant to go together! I did a little baking experiment today and my theory proved to be correct. The contrast of salty with peppermint, white chocolate with dark chocolate= recipe for success. I think these will become an annual tradition for us from here on out. They are super easy to make and look fabulous also. Disfruta!

Ingredients:

1 cup crushed pretzels (I used the mini twists)

(1) 12 oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 bag Ghiradelli bittersweet 60% cacao chips

16 oz white chocolate (I was lucky enough to have some white chocolate from Switzerland so I mixed that with a bag of Ghiradelli's white chips)

1-3 TBSP milk as needed

(1) 6 oz package candy canes, crushed

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Melt dark and semi-sweet chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of very low simmering water.

Once smooth, mix in crushed pretzels.

Pour mixture over lined cookie sheet, and spread out with a spatula.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until completely hardened.

Melt white chocolate the same way as the dark chocolate, adding milk as needed to reach a smooth consistency. Stir in half the candy canes.

Pull chilled pretzel bark out and pour white chocolate mixture over the top. Using a spatula, quickly spread the mixture gently, not pushing too hard so that the dark chocolate doesn't mix in with the white. Sprinkle remaining candy canes over the top and refrigerate again until hard, approximately 30 min.

With a sharp knife, cut bark into pieces. Enjoy right away, or if you have the will power not to eat the whole batch, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you are ready to polish it off.