Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Holiday Nights

First off, thank you to everyone that wished us a Happy One Year!  We had a great weekend!  Our favorite part of the weekend was Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village.

It was the perfect night for it!  Clint and I layered up and headed out to meet my brother and his girlfriend.

Thats us, ice skating on an outdoor rink.

Did I mention it was snowing!  What more could you ask for!




My brother and Clint standing next to an awesome Military Jeep.

My brother got to ride shotgun in a Ford Model T vehicle.  I love how you can see all of us breathing in this picture.  Makes my brother look mysterious...


It is a little hard to see, but a real Santa stands on the balcony of this home and shouts out names of Children and wishes them a Merry Christmas.  As we were walking away, Santa said my name!  Thats because I have been good.

It was a great night!
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So, I thought I would show you what I have been up to lately.  One thing I hate doing is giving people a gift for the sake of giving a gift.  I am referring to my coworkers.  I work with 3 men who are crazy about cars.  What do you get them?  So each year, I make them presents instead of buying them silly things they don't need.  Ususally it is cookies.  This year, they are getting a REAL treat!

Peppermint Bark!!
So easy to make.  Here is what you will need.


Candy Canes



2 lbs White Chocolate

Thats it!  You can add other things, like peppermint extract or a layer of milk chocolate, but I kept it simple.

Step 1: Melt the chocolate.  I used the microwave instead of a double boiler.  I know everyone says to use a double boiler, but A) I don't have one and B) this was a lot less messier and faster.  Just make sure you use a bowl that is easy to pour with.  Also, make sure not to burn the chocolate.  I put mine on for 2 minutes and that was plenty of time.

Step 2: Line a cooksheet with parchment paper.  Make sure your baking sheet has edges so the chocolate doesn't run off. 

Step 3: Break up candy canes



Do not do this on your beautiful granite counter tops!  I did this on the floor with the candy canes in a grocery bag.

Step 4: Pour the white chocolate onto the baking sheet.  Sprinkle the candy cane pieces on top.

Step 5: Chill in the fridge for at least 45 minutes. 



Once firm, break into pieces.  I decided to wrap mine in small plastic bags with ribbon. 




And you're done! 
This was the easiest dessert I have ever made.  The longest part was waiting for it to chill.

Keep checking back.  Tomorrow I am going to show off our breeze way for Christmas! 

5 comments:

Scientific Housewife said...

I love Peppermint bark! Great pictures, you are lucky it was snowing... we'll be lucky if it doesn't rain on Christmas haha.

elizabeth said...

great idea for the guys - i too hate giving gifts just for the sake of giving something - they wont use etc. Homemade goodies usually do the trick.
Jealous of your snow -
but actually it was in the high 30's last nite so I was freezing.
Do you think you could drive that old ford down to florida?
It would be great to photography family's in it.

have a good tuesday!!!!

p.s. - sure i will adopt you - only if you make more peppermint bark!!;)

Jen @ homeinthecountry said...

Love the snow in your pictures - glad you guys had fun!

Love the peppermint bark idea... I, too, hate gifting just to give - it's so much more fun to give gifts that the recipient will find useful/meaningful/delicious!

micah said...

What a fun night! I bet it was very pretty with the snow.

That peppermint candy looks DELISH!!! Wanna send some my way? Ha!

Kim at Yellow Brick Home said...

Dang! This looks delicious. I'll have to try it out for sure!

Thanks for the super simple tutorial!