Hershey's Chocolate Mint Candy Canes (12ct)

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Because I don’t know that I’ll ever run out of variations of this cake and I want to share them ALL with you! Chop the chocolate to even-size pieces and place into the top of a double boiler or heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water making sure that the bowl doesn’t touch the water and steam does not get into the chocolate.

I tend to use medium eggs in my baking, but if you use large you can swap up the rest of the ingredients to match. Each of these Nutcrackers had a theme — there was a fisherman, a Scottish bagpiper, a leprechaun, a painter, a toymaker… They were freakin’ adorable. Any questions, leave them in the comments below – and if you have a go at the them, make sure to tag me on social media so I can see them! If needed, add a little more sugar or peppermint (or salt or vanilla, but those usually aren’t what’s lacking), but don’t go overboard, as the crushed candy canes will add both sweetness and peppermint.Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, each time beating on low then slowly increasing to high for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, until smooth. So there I am a few years ago, blissfully perusing their holiday decorations, when I stumble across these authentic handmade Nutcrackers from Germany.

For this Peppermint Candy Cane Chocolate bark, I chose the easy way of tempering chocolate using a microwave. It’s a holiday treat that’s ready in minutes, and perfect for holiday entertaining, or giving to teachers, friends, and neighbours for Christmas. I love the flavour marriage so much I have a candy cane cheesecake recipe and a chocolate peppermint cake to name a couple! Crush the candy canes by removing the wrappers, placing them in a strong plastic bag (or double up) and crush with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer.Cover a baking with a sheet of wax paper, allowing the it to hang over the ends of the baking sheet. And by active cooking time I mean crushing candy canes then adding them to chocolate chips melted in the microwave. But I did discover a sweet spot that could help minimize the chances of breakage at least with this particular chocolate brand. Some like to add oil to the chocolate chips (not melting wafers) so the chocolate won't harden as quickly.

Wrap up a set of candy canes–I like to use a cellophane bag tied with a ribbon–for friends, neighbors, hairstylists, teachers, and more. Sift your dry ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer and whisk until the cocoa is evenly distributed and there are no streaks. If you’re looking to make these in advance, I would recommend baking and freezing just the cookies themselves, then thawing, dipping, and decorating when you need them.And while candy melts are great for coating cake pops, in a recipe like this, you’ll really taste the difference between actual chocolate and candy melts. The dough needs at least 30 minutes to chill in the fridge so the cookies don’t spread out too much. Also, I fully plan to share a new candy cane or chocolate peppermint cake with you each holiday season. Or use a shard to decorate a dessert – for instance, I like to serve it with our No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream. Once set remove from fridge and using hands crack the bark into smaller segments depending on what you need them more.

It’s not totally necessary to temper your chocolate, but without this step the likelihood of the chocolate not coming out right increases.So if you prefer a softer cookie, natural cocoa is the answer (or maybe add a bit of cream of tartar, like you do in snickerdoodles).