Peppermint Bark Cookies

-
This is something for visiting children over Christmas. but I'm sure adults would like them too!

 I've made peppermint bark for several years, but recently, looking on Pinterest, I saw that you could make cookies with a bark topping. I had to try these, as I wanted to take something for my grandchildren when we visited them yesterday.

 I decided to make a shortbread type dough.


 Preheat oven 180C/gas4 and grease a Swiss roll tin and line with a strip of parchment paper down the middle, leaving the ends overhanging to get the cookie out of the tin.

 Beat 220g butter till creamy and white, then gradually beat in 200g of caster sugar. Keep beating till it's nice and fluffy. Add 1 tspn vanilla extract and a large egg yolk and beat in. Add 240g plain flour plus a pinch of salt and slowly add to the batter till blended.

 I found it easier to drop spoonfuls of this into the tin as it's a stiff mixture, then using my fingertips I pressed the dough into the tin to make a layer. Prick all over with a fork.
Bake till light golden, about 30 mins.

 While base is warm and still in the tin, spread over 175g of melted dark chocolate, then top with 6 - 8 chopped up candy canes. Cool.

 Melt 60g white chocolate carefully and drizzle this over the chopped candy. Chill for 30 mins till the chocolate is set.

 Use the parchment paper to get the cookie out of the tin, then cut into pieces.


Not a very clear photo - sorry. Only had the one on my phone to use.

My grandchildren loved them and I put them in cellophane bags with a pretty ribbon, so they looked very festive.
They are of course, sweet, but I like the biscuit layer underneath as a contrast to the sweet topping. Will certainly make them again next year.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.









Comments

Suelle said…
The red and white topping makes these look very festive.

Happy Christmas!
22/12/14 5:35 am
Phil in the Kitchen said…
I must admit that some peppermint would go down very well with me, if only to contrast with all the mincemeat and mulled wine spices. And they look so good (the photo is fine for me). Have a very excellent Christmas.
22/12/14 2:43 pm
Snowy said…
Thank you both, and a very Happy Christmas to you too.
23/12/14 5:42 am
The Caked Crusader said…
There is something about mint and chocolate that is christmas in a sweet! These look lovely
27/12/14 1:01 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aberffraw cakes

-
Image
These were mentioned recently on the GBBO, so I thought I'd find out more about them. They're made on the Isle of Anglesey and are a traditional biscuit really, not a cake. They're served sprinkled with sugar and even with cream and jam, like a scone. The bit I liked was that a scallop shell is pressed into the top to give it a shell-like pattern. Nowadays, a lot of the Aberffraw cakes have the pattern put on with a knife. I have a bag of scallop shells, brought back from France so I used a genuine one to make my pattern. The recipe is a 3.2.1  - quite common for biscuits. This means 3 parts flour to 2 parts fat to 1 part sugar. 175g flour 110g butter 55g caster sugar a little milk more caster sugar for sprinkling over Preheat oven 190C/gas5. Grease a baking sheet. I used a processor to make my dough. Put flour and sugar in a bowl and rub in the butter. Bind together with a litle milk to make a soft dough. Roll out and cut out circles. I used a 7cm cutter an...
Read more

Carrot Cake Muffins

-
Image
 I’m a great muffin fan and have adapted my basic recipe, given to me by an American friend, many times. This is my latest idea. I made the muffins and was asked by a friend if I could make some for a party with the icing you usually get on a carrot cake.  280g plain flour, 1 tbsps baking powder, 1 tspn mixed spice, pinch salt, 115g soft dark brown sugar, 200g grated carrot, 50g chopped pecans or walnuts, 50g sultanas, 2 eggs, 175ml milk, 6 tbsps sunflower oil Optional: icing - 75g soft cream cheese, 49g butter and 35g icing sugar, sprigs of orange zest Preheat oven 200C/gas6. Grease a muffin tin or use muffin cases. Sift together the flour, baking powder and spice. Add carrots, sugar walnuts and sultanas and stir together. In a jug add the milk, oil and beaten eggs. Mix well. Make a well in flour mix and add milk mixture. Stir gently till just mixed. Don’t over mix or muffins will be heavy. Soon into the muffin tin - I use an ice cream scoop. Bake for 20 mins till risen. Cool...
Read more

Bakewell Pudding (or maybe not!)

-
Image
  I recently picked up a book in a local charity shop about 'Food of the British Isles'.It's a compilation of recipes from restaurants and cooks. I was especially interested in the Cake Section, as I've been wanting to try some of the more unusual British cake and pudding recipes for some time. This one isn't very unusual, but thought I'd try it as it's called a Bakewell Pudding and not a Tart. In the book, the writer says says that a Pudding is made with puff pastry and the Tart with shortcrust. Is it that simple? I bet a lot of local people would disagree with this definition! The writer made her puff pastry from scratch, but I bought mine, butter of course! For the Pudding you need : 500g butter puff pastry, 3 tbspn raspberry jam, 150g butter, 150g caster sugar, 3 eggs plus a yolk, beaten, 150g ground almonds, zest of a lemon,2 tspn almond extract, 1 tbspn flaked almonds and some icing sugar to dust the top. Preheat oven 190C/gas5        ...
Read more