HomeTutorialsHand PaintedTablescapes

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Peppermint Madness: Martinis, Peppermint Bark, Peppermint Cupcakes

My daughter Stephanie went a little crazy with her peppermint experiments this year, but all of us enjoyed her laboratory (kitchen) experiments and they were delicious.



To make the Peppermint Bark, use one package of semi-sweet chocolate chips, 12 oz.  One package of white chocolate chip morsels, 12 oz., and 12 candy canes.

Put aluminum foil on a baking sheet.  Heat chocolate semi-sweet morsels in microwave, then spread evenly on aluminum foil with a spatula.  Place in freezer.  While that layer is in the freezer, place your candy canes in a plastic bag and crush the candy canes with a rolling pin or object of your choice.  Make small, small pieces of the candy cane.  Once that is completed, heat your white chocolate chip morsels in the microwave.  Heat all chocolate a half a package at a time and check after a minute and a half.  Once the white chocolate is ready and melted, stir in peppermint crushed candy canes.  Take the frozen semi sweet chocolate out of the freezer ( make sure it's frozen) then spread the white with a spatula over the dark.  At this point Stephanie  says it looks kind of funky and you think it's not going to look good so place the whole thing in the oven at 250 degrees for 10 minutes.  Let it cool at room temperature or put in freezer until firm and ready to break.  This is the best peppermint bark I have had so far and everyone asks for the recipe.

To make the Candy Cane Delight Martini, use 2 ounces Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur, 2 ounces Pinnacle Whipped Vodka to one ounce Peppermint Schnapps and about 2 ounces of heavy cream.  Use Grenadine for color if you would like to make it like a candy cane.  Stephanie bought the peppermint rimming sugar  and all other ingredients at Total Wine.  Rim your glass with the Peppermint rimming sugar.  Wet the rim of your glass and dip it in the sugar.  In a shaker mix the rest of the ingredients except the grenadine.  After the martini is made, pour it in the rimmed glass and do a splash of grenadine in a circular motion to make a swirl and garnish with a candy cane swirl.  Enjoy and please drink responsibly.

For Stephanie's cupcakes, she used regular cake mixes and used a cake decorator tip to swirl the frosting and then crushed the candy canes into pieces using a rolling pin or a mallet.  (a food processor works too.)  Sprinkle the crushed candy cane onto your cupcakes.  They look so festive and taste divine!  We consider ourselves cupcake connoisseurs since we live so close to Sprinkles and Crumbs cupcake shops.  I enjoyed hers just as much.  They were truly beautiful and were a fraction of the price.  Besides, cupcakes make the perfect serving size.  She served them on a pretty paper doily and then surrounded them with the peppermint bark and some holiday candy kisses.

2 comments:

Dee ⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️ said...

Hi Maggie,

WOW! Does that all sound yummy!

Dee

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

This sounds wonderful! You have a fun blog...I'm enjoying looking around this morning! Happy holidays! ♥