Homemade Peppermint Bark

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Celebrating the holiday season with this easy Homemade Peppermint Bark! Made with dark chocolate, white chocolate, and a little splash of peppermint oil. These sweet treats are perfectly crisp, with that beautiful snap from tempered chocolate, and perfectly sweet with the peppermint flavor here. It’s the perfect balance between chocolate and peppermint! After setting, they’re generously topped with crushed candy canes to create that iconic look. Every bite is sweet, minty, chocolate-y, and just melt in your mouth delicious! The secret to the best-ever peppermint bark is tempering your chocolate. While melted chocolate does work fine, tempered chocolate allows these cookies to remain firm and resistant to melting, even when holding them, and gives you that classic snap. The best no bake dessert around! This makes for a great homemade gift during the holidays, as a decoration for cakes, or even a festive addition to your Christmas cookie box!

→ This post is also available as a Web Story: Peppermint Bark

About The Recipe

Sometimes, there is nothing better than just chocolate and peppermint. It’s a classic combo that can be found in coffee, ice cream, brownies, and so much more. It’s actually (unsurprisingly) one of my absolute favorite things! But, finding the perfect balance between peppermint and chocolate can be a bit difficult…but there no worries about that with recipe! Every bite of this peppermint bark is just right.

Though, if I’m being honest, this recipe took THREE attempts to get it right. The first attempt was really our test. It tasted and looked great but it was WAY too thick. You definitely couldn’t snap it like traditional peppermint bark should. So, we tried again.

Now, when trying to take process photos, things tend to sit for a few minutes longer than they do when you traditional make them. Our second attempt technically should have been perfect…but the pausing in-between to take photos kind of messed with our chocolate.

The dark chocolate set too much while we were tempering and taking photos of the white chocolate. So, when it came down to cutting the peppermint bark……the white chocolate literally separated from the dark chocolate. We were so disappointed, but it was kind of funny at the same time.

The very next day, we got up early and tried again. We had the prep photos, so we just made it all the way through. It worked beautifully!

I was beyond ecstatic because we finally had successful peppermint bark. It’s always been one of my favorite treats to buy during the Christmas season. Though, I can promise you that this is SO much better than anything you can buy in the store!

Every bite is chocolate-y, peppermint-y (but not in like…a toothpaste way), and just melt in your mouth delicious. If you’ve been looking for a last minute gift to give this Christmas, you need to make this peppermint bark!

Why You’ll Love This Peppermint Bark

• It’s super simple and easy to make!
• You can use melted or tempered chocolate.
• If you’ve never tempered chocolate before and want to learn, we teach you how a little bit further down in the post!
• This recipe is minty, but not too minty.
• There’s just enough chocolate to hold everything together, but snaps beautifully when it’s set.
• You get to smash candy canes!
• It makes for a great last minute gift.

Equipment Needed

• 9 Inch Square Cake Pan
• Parchment Paper
• Glass Bowls
• Thermometer (if tempering)
• 2 Quart Pot (if tempering)
• Chocolate Tempering Machine (optional to make things easier, but not necessary!)
• Rubber Spatulas

Ingredients

(Full ingredient amounts and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the post)

• Melted or tempered dark chocolate
• Melted or tempered white chocolate
• Peppermint Oil
• Candy Canes

How To Make Peppermint Bark

Crush candy canes in a zip top bag and set aside.

Line a 9 inch square cake pan with parchment paper.

Pour melted or tempered chocolate into lined pan and let it sit until just set, but not hardened.

Stir the peppermint oil into white chocolate.

Pour the white chocolate over the dark chocolate and tilt the pan to coat the top. Let sit until just starting to set. Sprinkle the top with crushed candy canes. Let sit out at room temperature until fully set.

Lift the peppermint bark out of the pan and cut into triangles. Serve!

How To Temper Chocolate

If you would like to temper your chocolate rather than melt it, we’ve got you covered. In three simple steps, you can temper chocolate perfectly every time!

1. Place the dark chocolate in a glass bowl and place over a pot of simmering water (this technique is called a baine-marie). Stir until the chocolate melts and temperature is around 124 degrees F, but no higher 130 degrees F.
2. Remove from heat and cool, stirring constantly, to between 82 degrees F and 84 degrees F.
3. Place back over warm water and raise temperature to between 88 degrees F and 90 degrees F. Hold at this temperature.

Now, you’ve successfully tempered the dark chocolate! Once tempered, pour into the lined pan and get a new bowl. You need to temper the white chocolate. It’s the same steps as above, but with different temperatures.

1. For white chocolate, you will need to heat it over a baine-marie to (ideally) 114 degrees F, but no higher than 121 degrees F.
2. Take it off the heat and, stirring constantly, cool it to between 79 degrees F and 81 degrees F.
3. Place back over the baine-marie and heat to between 82 degrees F and 84 degrees F.

Your white chocolate is now tempered! For this specific recipe, you will need to stir in some peppermint oil right after the white chocolate is tempered. Then, pour it over the dark chocolate and let set!

What Kind of Chocolate Should I Use?

For this recipe, you need to use high quality dark chocolate. No candy melts, no chocolate chips. We used a dark chocolate (64%) for the bottom layer, but you can also use a bittersweet (about 63%). If you are tempering the chocolate, do not use anything darker or lighter. If you do, the temperatures will not be accurate.

When it comes to white chocolate, you need to be a lot more careful. It also needs to be a high quality chocolate. No palm or kernel oils. It needs to be pure cocoa butter. You can actually tell, not just by the ingredients of the white chocolate if it’s pure, but by the color! Fake white chocolate will be a snow/pure white, whereas real white chocolate will be a much yellow in color. Kind of cool, right?

Tempered Chocolate or Melted Chocolate

With this recipe, you can really use either, but it’s genuinely much better with tempered chocolate! With tempered chocolate, you will have a much harder set, which results in a much snappier/crispier chocolate. It’s also more resistant to heat! So, it’s less likely to melt in your hands. The downside to tempered chocolate is that it is more difficult to do than just melting chocolate.

With just melted chocolate, the only real upside to it is how simple it is! It doesn’t have the same qualities as tempered and it will melt in your hand. So, it’s up to you, but tempered is really the best way to go with this recipe.

How To Store

Once the peppermint bark is set and cut, you can easily store this in an airtight container or zip top bag and keep at room temperature for up to one month.

Variations

• Triple Layer Peppermint Bark: Instead of starting with dark chocolate, try starting with the white chocolate! Then, a dark chocolate layer before finishing with another! white chocolate layer. You could even have two layers of dark chocolate, if you’d like! It will be seriously delicious either way.
• Use different chocolate candies: This is a fun way to jazz up peppermint bark and make it special! You can use mini M&M’s or even peppermint M&M’s .
• Snow White Bark: Love white chocolate? Make a white chocolate only peppermint bark for sweet twist on the classic.
• Dark Chocolate Bark: Love dark chocolate more than white? Try using only dark chocolate for this recipe!

Expert Tips

• You can use crushed candy canes, crushed peppermint candies, or store-bought crushed peppermint for the topping.
• The best way to crush candy canes is in a resealable bag with either a rolling pin, meat tenderizer (or any kind of mallet, really), or even the bottom of a metal measuring cup!
• If you don’t have peppermint oil, you can omit it, but the peppermint bark won’t have a lot of mint flavor.
• Be sure to use a good quality chocolate for this recipe.
• If you’re tempering the chocolate, remember to have everything prepped before hand. It can be a little difficult, as timing is everything with this recipe.
• When spreading the dark chocolate layer, use a rubber spatula or an offset spatula to get it perfectly level. Also, tap it on the counter a few times!
• Don’t use a white chocolate that has been made with anything other than cocoa butter. No palm kernel oil or palm oil.
• Be sure to pour the white chocolate on top of the dark before the dark chocolate hardens completely or it won’t adhere and your bark will separate when you try to cut it.
• Setting times will depend on temperature in your kitchen! The colder it is, the faster it sets. The warmer it is, the slower it sets. Keep this in mind!
• Do NOT refrigerate this peppermint bark!
• This recipe is naturally Gluten-Free and can be made vegan if vegan white chocolate is used.

When you make this Homemade Peppermint Bark, leave a comment down below! We love hearing from you and answering any questions you might have! Also, be sure to tag us on social media and hashtag it #BakersTable.

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