I made this at 3am last night after being briefly comatosed (2 hours) from half pint of beer. With ice. I’m a cheap drunk like that.
# – Peppermint bark candy.
In my defense, I don’t normally knock out so quickly especially if I had something to focus on, such as a movie or a conversation.
But, it was a balmy evening, BF was busy with work so I was left to my own device, Charlie was sleeping quietly on my foot, I was flipping through a book called “The Chocolate Bible” while sipping iced beer and before I knew it, I fell asleep with peppermint bark in my mind.
# – Only 5 ingredients! #winning
I popped up after the effect of alcohol had worn off and all I wanted to do was make the damn candy. These things are fated.
The ingredients:
- 200 grams of chocolate (by the way, I used Ikea’s 60% dark chocolates which are MUCH cheaper and taste significantly better than those overpriced cooking chocolates. Which is why I bought 1.5 kilograms of them :P)
- 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint essence
- 115 grams of granulated sugar
- 150 ml of water
- 4 tablespoons of dessicated coconut
# – First, boil the water and granulated sugar in a saucepan on medium heat. Stir until all sugar has dissolved.
# – Allow the sugar mixture to boil on its own for about 13 minutes or till it has turned into amber colour. Immediately stir in the peppermint essence.
# – Pour the mixture onto a greased metal baking tray. Don’t use paper like I did as it may stick. I had to painstakingly break off the bits with papers stuck on it to be discarded. Tilt the tray to make sure the sugar has spread out evenly. Be very careful as liquid sugar is extremely hot!
# – Leave it to set for an hour or stick it in the fridge for 15 minutes. The sugar should harden and you can lift it off the tray.
# – Bash the sugar into small pieces with the end of a rolling pin or a pestle. Set aside.
# – In the meantime, melt the chocolate. You can do it with a double boiler or stick it in the microwave for 2 minutes at Medium Low.
# – Dump in the peppermint sugar and dessicated coconut into the melted chocolate.
# – With a spatula, stir till everything is well coated.
# – Dump the mixture onto a silicon sheet or baking tray. With a knife or long spatula, spread it out as thinly as possible. Stick it in the fridge to chill for a minimum of 30 minutes.
# – When the chocolate has set, use a sharp knife to cut it into sticks.
# – Peppermint chocolate stick candy, DONE!
Fans of peppermint flavour would LOVE this! The peppermint candy gives the chocolate a lovely cool crunch while the dessicated coconut keeps the mint flavour from getting too harsh with its own brand of sweetness that would remind you of the sun, sea and beach.
If you asked me, this candy conjures up images of Christmas in the tropics, which is apt because I live in Malaysia. It’s 6 months too early but this is going into my Christmas menu for this year. By the way, unless you know how to temper chocolates (a process that keeps the chocolates glossy and solid in room temperature), you got to keep these babies chilled.
Addictive!