Took a break from all the crafting the past couple of nights and started baking! Last night I made 2 kinds of chocolate bark: chocolate peanut butter and oreo cookie. My favorite turned out to be the peanut butter. Both are super easy to make.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Bark
1 Package Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1Package Peanut Butter Chips
1 Tablespoon of Organic Peanut Butter
Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for about 1 minute on 50% power. Stir like crazy. If you still have some stubborn pieces that won't melt stick it back in for about 10 seconds at time and stir in between until completely melted. Be careful not to overdo it! It ends up smelling and tasting horrible...yep I've done that before. Stir in the peanut butter and spread on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Spread it as thin or thick as you want.
Melt the Peanut Butter Chips the same way and spread right on top of the chocolate layer. Refrigerate for at least one hour or until completely firm than break into pieces.
Chocolate Oreo Cookie Bark
1 Package Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
About 8-10 Sandwich cookies
Melt the chocolate chips the same way, add the crushed up oreos, and spread on the cookie sheet. Couldn't be easier and actually looks pretty fancy when done.
You can do this with any combination--white chocolate chips, candy canes, drizzle chocolate on top, etc.
I ended up packaging up the Oreo cookie bark for my grandma for a Christmas present.
Luckily she doesn't care for peanut butter...all for me! Well, all for me and my family. :)
I decided last week to make peppermint ice cream after the craziness of my daughter's play and my craft fair were over. Tonight was the night! The recipe calls for 8 egg yolks so I decided to use the egg whites (I couldn't just waste them!) and make meringue cookies too. I made chocolate ones with candy canes on top, chocolate ones with chocolate chips on top, and plain
ol' vanilla ones.
I drank Moscato wine --one of my favorites--and listened to a great mix of music including Billie Holiday.
Here is the recipe for the ice cream--worth all the trouble!
Peppermint Ice Cream
(courtesy of simplyrecipes.com)
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
8 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
1/2 cup crushed candy canes or hard peppermint candy
Method
Special equipment needed
An ice cream maker, or a KitchenAid mixer with an ice cream attachment
1 Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Make sure the sugar and salt completely dissolve.
2 Pour the cream into a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and set a medium-mesh sieve on top.
3 In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
4 Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden or heatproof rubber spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula, about 5-7 minutes.
5 Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Then stir until cool over the ice bath. Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.
6 One the mixture is thoroughly chilled, add peppermint extract, a 1/4 teaspoon at a time, tasting the mixture after each addition, until you reach the desired level of peppermintiness. (Different peppermint extracts vary in strength. I used 2 teaspoons of McCormick peppermint extract, which was just the right amount for our taste.)
7 Once chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
8 Once the ice cream has been formed in the ice cream maker, it will be fairly soft. Fold in the crushed peppermint candy. Put in an airtight plastic container and place in the freezer for at least an hour, preferably several hours. If it has been frozen for more than a day, you may need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften it before serving.
Makes 1 1/2 quarts.
I found this peppermint extract at Whole Foods-so good!
My impatience won and I dove into it before it is fully frozen! It melted fast but I was faster eating it. Yum!!
I thought this was a real gingerbread house until I looked at it really closely. It's all crocheted! Awesome! 
