Joel’s Scattered Thoughts

Winter’s Veil Bark from WOW Insider looks tasty. This looks like a recipe that that kids would have fun making.

The tools:

1. Microwave or stove-top.
2. Two microwave-safe bowls, or two saucepans.
3. Two spoons.
4. Preferably, a mortar and pestle (if not, an old plate or mixing bowl).
5. Small-medium sized cookie sheet or cake pan.
6. Wax paper.
7. A metal spatula.

The mats:

1. One box of baker’s white chocolate, equaling about six 6-ounce squares.
2. 1 cup (6 ounces) of semi-sweet chocolate chips (about half a standard bag).
3. One box of candy canes, about 12-14. Peppermint candies can also be used. When crushed, it should equal roughly a cup, although the actual amount used is up to you.

The first step in preparing your bark is to crush some candy canes. This part is fun, but also very sticky, so if you have kids in the house, log some sibling or parental moments and put them to work! After you unwrap them, break them up a few at a time and grind them using your mortar and pestle. In the absence of these handy tools, you can place the pieces into a mixing bowl, and use the bottom of a smaller mixing bowl to grind up the candy. I’ll let you guess which method I used!

Next, unwrap the white chocolates and place them in one of your microwave-safe bowls. Using about 70% power, melt the chocolate, stirring it until it is smooth and lump-free. Repeat with the chocolate chips in a separate bowl. If you are using saucepans, set your burners to low or minimum heat, and stir the chocolate until melted and smooth, then remove from heat.

Pick up your spoons, and dig into the candy cane bits! You’ll need to mix roughly six spoonfuls into each bowl of chocolate. If you’re using saucepans, be careful when using metal spoons not to scrape the bottom of the pans.

Now for the artistic flair. Grab your cookie sheet or cake pan, lined with wax paper, and start spooning in the two chocolate mixtures. Remembering that you are aiming for a fairly thin layer, about 1/4 of an inch thick, alternate the chocolate globs. Do not be disappointed if it looks unprofessional at this stage.

Once you’ve spooned all of your chocolate onto the pan, try to resist the urge to mix or spread it. Instead, coax the chocolate into the corners by shifting the wax paper. Drag the tip of a metal spatula, cake/pie serving tool, or even a toothpick, through the chocolate. Use swirling motions, and be careful not to stir it too much. Watch as in some areas, the chocolates will blend; too much blending will ruin the visual effect, as well as the taste of the two chocolates.

When you are satisfied with your swirling, take the remaining candy cane bits and shake them on top. While many people grind their candy canes very fine, I like to leave some slightly larger chunks for visual variety. At least, that is the story that I, with my mixing-bowl mortar and pestle substitute, am sticking to.

Speaking of sticky, because we are using wax paper to coat the pan, you should not have much trouble with clean-up. Provided that you run your bowls or saucepans and spoons under some hot water once you’ve spooned out the chocolate, dishes will be a breeze.

Simply place the cookie sheet into the fridge and chill until solid. Then, lift the wax paper off of the pan, and the bark from the paper. Break the bark into pieces; don’t try to cut it into neat squares. Store in the fridge in an air-tight container until game-night.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 10:21 pm and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.