Mint Chocolate Swirl Bark

i make this mint chocolate bark pretty much every year. i simply layer melted dark chocolate with a mixture of melted white chocolate, peppermint extract, and green food coloring. after another layer of dark chocolate, the whole thing cools, sets, and it broken into pieces. in the end you have beautiful layered mint chocolate bark.

not only does it taste good and look pretty but it's easy to make.

however, this year, i decided to do a swirl instead of the layering and it turned out beautifully. if you are looking for a quick but great gift, make a batch of this mint chocolate bark, break it into pieces and wrap it up in plastic. tie a pretty bow around it and you have an excellent and tasty gift!

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Mint Chocolate Swirl Bark

1 bag dark chocolate chips
1 bag white chocolate chips
green food coloring
pure peppermint extract

melt dark chocolate chips in a double boiler. pour into wax paper lined baking pan (i used an 8x8 inch pan). melt white chocolate chips in double boiler. stir in 3 drops of green food coloring and 4 drops of peppermint extract. pour random spoonfuls of white (now green) chocolate on dark chocolate. using a knife, make swirls in the chocolate. let set overnight to harden completely. when fully set, break into pieces.

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on a side note, it snowed here for the first time this winter. not much, but enough to make my nandinas look pretty.

it's beginning to look at lot like christmas . . .

Chocolate and Sea Salt Thumbprint Cookies

i love thumbprint cookies. a buttery cookie enveloping a sweet well of jam - yum! i stumbled upon my grandmother's thumbprint cookie recipe in her old handwritten cookbook (lengthy description here) and decided to make them as christmas cookies this year.

however, i wanted to do something a little different this time. one of my favorite things is dark chocolate with sea salt. the little bit of salt really brings out the flavor of the chocolate. it is to die for. seriously.

so i thought, why can't i fill my thumbprint cookies with dark chocolate and sprinkle a little sea salt? that could be good, right? and if i'm doing that, why not also fill some with salted caramel too? ooh, and i could drizzle some dark chocolate over the salted caramel . . .

and so, the recipe took shape and i waited with anticipation as my cookies baked and my chocolate melted. would this turn out as well in practice as i imagine it in my head? let me tell you, waiting was a lesson in patience. not only did i have to wait for the cookies to bake and the chocolate to melt, i had to wait for the chocolate to cool. if i sprinkled the sea salt to early when the chocolate or caramel was too warm, it melted into the cookie. if i waited too long and the chocolate was set, it would just sit on top of the cookie. i was like goldilocks, it had to be just riiight.

and just right they were. it's official, these thumbprint cookies are even better when filled with chocolate. so now we have a super versatile cookie - one that can be filled with fruity jam, rich chocolate, or salty caramel. take your pick and bake away.

note: if you are filling with chocolate, bake the cookie empty and fill with chocolate. i used werther's chewy caramels and added them to the empty cookies halfway through cooking. (of course you could make your own caramel, but i wanted to know if an easier way worked and it does!) then drizzle with melted chocolate and sprinle with sea salt when cooled 10 minutes.

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Chocolate and Sea Salt Thumbprint Cookies
(makes 3 dozen cookies)

1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter, softened (i used one salted and one unsalted)
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup dark chocolate chips
sea salt

preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

cream together butter and sugar until smooth. add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. add vanilla. slowly add flour a little at a time, scraping down bowl as needed.

roll teaspoon size balls of dough and place on parchment lined baking sheet.

press thumb into center of ball to flatten and create a well in the cookie. (if filling with jam, fill now).

bake for 10 minutes. (if filling with caramels, place caramel in well after 5 minutes of baking). remove and let cool on wire racks.

meanwhile, melt chocolate chips in double boiler until smooth. fill cooled cookie wells with chocolate or drizzle over caramel filled cookies. let cool 10-15 minutes and sprinkle with sea salt. enjoy!

Jessop Egg Nog and Hickory Farm Goodies

this christmas is going to be very different from the last 29 christmases i have experienced. it will be the first year the whole jessop family has not been in town. it will be atypical to say the least. luckily AJ was here this past weekend and we did a couple christmas things while she was here. the main thing? we made the first batch of jessop egg nog.

this secret family recipe has been a integral part of every christmas i can remember. it was usually made a day or two before christmas eve and enjoyed that evening. last year was an exception to the rule as poppop made egg nog early and we were able to enjoy it leading up to christmas and into the new year because he ended up making 3 batches.

this stuff is serious. i won't be giving you the exact recipe but lets just say it has lots of eggs, real cream, sugar, whiskey, and brandy. dang, it is good stuff! now-a-days, we have the luxury of an electric mixer. let me tell you, it's an arm workout. i cannot begin to imagine making this fluffy, spiked, frothy goodness with just a whisk. poppop remembers all the kids helping to make it, taking turns at the hand whisk.

the effort is well worth it. it's one of those things that tastes even better as it ages. we have always stored it in cleaned out half gallon milk cartons. this year i was a bit fancier and used a glass hermetic closure bottle.

while we whisked, we had to have a little sustenance. is it wrong to "drink" while making "drinks"? if drinking cava is wrong, i don't want to be right! we also enjoyed some cheese, sausage, and crackers courtesy of hickory farms.

one of the perks of being a foodbuzz sponsored blogger is i get the opportunity to "opt in" to various promotions. the wonderful people at hickory farms sent me a box full of goodies to try for the holidays. although the food was free, the opinions of the loot are 100% mine.

the sesame, caraway, and sea salt crackers were excellent! the crunchiness and flavor from the seeds really added a little something extra. i also loved the summer sausages. unfortunately, i found the cheeses to be a bit artificial tasting. all the cheeses were labeled "pasteurized process cheese" and i could taste it. perhaps it has to be this way so the cheese can be shipped without being refrigerated but it was a bit disappointing. i guess i'm just a real cheese kind of girl.

the evening was wonderful spending some pre-christmas time with family. the jessop egg nog was the perfect finish to a great night!