Christmas Recipes - How to Make Peppermint Bark

One of the easiest options to make Peppermint Bark Candy is to use white chocolate. You will need:

• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies
• 1 pound white chocolate or white bakers chips

Melt the chocolate or chips in a pan over water (a double boiler if you have one). Crush the peppermint candies finely by placing them in a plastic bag and using a rolling-pin or a hammer. The lowest of a can also works well. I would recommend doing this on a cutting board and not on the counter top. Stir the peppermint candy into the melted chocolate. Spread onto a greased cookie sheet and allow to cool. Break into pieces.

Peppermint Bark Fudge Candy

You will need:

• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups crushed peppermint candies

In a saucepan over medium heat consolidate the sugar, salt, baking soda, milk and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat until the combination comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue to stir and cook until the combination reaches the soft ball stage, 236 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Take off from heat. Let cool 5 minutes. Stir in the butter and peppermint. Beat by hand until the candy thickens and begins to look cloudy. Quickly drop by spoonfuls onto wax or parchment paper or well greased cookie sheets. Allow to cool. You could sprinkle added chopped candies over the tops if you wish.

For a lighter, melt in your mouth version try Peppermint Meringue Bites. For these delicate treats you will need:

• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (helps stabilize the egg whites)
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 cup crushed peppermint candies or candy canes (red are peppermint and green are ordinarily spearmint)
• 2 to 6 drops of green or red food coloring (this is optional).

I mix up 2 batches for the holidays, one red and one green. They look as great on a cookie platter as they taste. But beware, you may be making these approximately daily. They are that good.

Lightly grease baking sheets, or line with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.

Slowly add sugar and continue beating until the egg whites are stiff. This can take up to about 7 minutes, depending on your mixer. Alternately you can do this by hand with a whisk. Moderately fold in the peppermint candies.

Folding is done by taking the spoon or preferably a spatula and plunging it into the egg whites. You then pull back up straight through the combination and fold the mix from the lowest over the top.

Do this Moderately so as not to break down the egg whites you have beaten so successfully.

Drop the combination onto the ready baking sheets to form small mounds. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes at 350 degrees until dry to the touch. Cool and store in air tight containers.

Any of these recipes will give you an spirited increasing to your Christmas dessert tables or cookie trays. Try them all. Each version will petition to distinct guests because of the distinction in textures and hardness. Remember, taking the itsybitsy bit of time required to make these and other homemade treats tells your house and friends just how much you care. Enjoy.

Christmas Recipes - How to Make Peppermint Bark

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Make Your Christmas Gifts and Have a Party Doing It

It not only is beginning to look a lot like Christmas; it is beginning to smell like Christmas. Hot chocolate brewing, apples and cinnamon, pumpkin spices, hot cider, all mingling with pine scents! Hmmmm...excuse me for a occasion while I pour some hot chocolate and plop in some marshmallows....

I love to get creative in the kitchen, and I love to share my creations with everyone. No extra chance required. I especially love to share my favorites, but I also like to try new recipes with friends-particularly at Christmas.

Do you enjoy baking or making goodies for the holidays? Do you make them to give as gifts to friends and family? Do you buy pre-decorated containers for them? Or do you get creative with the containers as well as the goodies?

Either way, such gifts are a joy to get ready and give and a pleasure to receive.

It is not critical to make whatever extra or fancy, just something that tastes good. Even if it's just five-minute fudge made in the microwave, it's still 'homemade' and says to the recipient, 'I made this specially for you.'

Perhaps you have a recipe that every person declares genuinely delicious. My friends love my peanut butter roll. One neighbor in single keeps request me when I'm going to make some more. Actually, he asks every time he sees me outside. Since the first gift under my tree is from him, making peanut butter roll for a Christmas gift now goes to the top of my to-do list!

Does making something in the kitchen seem like too much of a chore? Then make a party out of it with like-minded friends and generate goodies and even decorate them amid lots of laughter and sharing of memories of Christmases past.

Have kids or grandkids? Have a candy- or cookie-making party with them. Also have them generate their own gift tags and decorate the containers.

If you're not particularly good at mixing up cookie dough, just buy it already prepared. Rolls of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough are easy for the kids to get creative with. If you're in need of some guidance on working with kids in the kitchen, web sites like Kraft Foods and Nestle and grandparents.com have straightforward and easy ideas, as well as tips on safety and planning.

Container Ideas

• Plastic storehouse bags with holiday prints on them are an easy and reasonable option.
• A itsybitsy more decorative, but higher priced, are aluminum pans with cardboard lids with holiday designs on them.

If your allocation allows:

• Holiday tins are available in varied sizes. (This is the best choice if you need to mail your gift. Check with your post office for tips on packing and shipping.)
• Holiday mugs or bowls range from dollar store prices to designer.
• Shaped glass jars, such as Christmas trees, can be found at Wal-Mart or online at Amazon.com or The package Store.
• Woven baskets in a variety of designs and sizes are also available in a range of prices.
• Get inspired and find your own unique containers: sand pails for the beach, fabric tote bags, clay pots, planters, tool boxes....

Decorative Touches

• Stick-on or tie-on gift tags are inexpensive, but if you want to personalize more, whether you're very artsy or not, make a small card with a straightforward hand-drawn produce or use rubber stamps or stick-on designs found in scrapbooking supplies sections of market like Wal-Mart.
• For containers like mugs and baskets, place them in the town of clear or colored plastic wrap or cellophane, then pull the ends up and tie them together with colorful string, yarn, or ribbon.
• Finish them all with a beautiful bow, ready-made or created by you.

Especially when children have a hand in creating them, such gifts are more personal and meaningful-and commonly less expensive. The children will also feel more like the gift was genuinely theirs to give than if you buy gifts they pick and just put their names on them.

Make a party out of it and enjoy the creative process as well as the giving.

Wasn't that a lot more fun than spending hours going from store to store and searching for the 'right' gift for each individual on your list?

Make Your Christmas Gifts and Have a Party Doing It

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