Early Family Christmas

We had our family Christmas early this year and it was such a fun day.  The kids got great gifts, we played games, had good food and just enjoyed hanging out with each other.  The nice part about doing it early is that there is still some Christmas left . . . it's not all over!  Here are some pictures from the day - it was hard to choose which ones to post here and as I look them over, I think about how I always wish I had more photos but in the moment, I want to enjoy it and not be constantly using the camera.  Anyways, these should give you a little taste of the day.  I love hanging out with my family!

Today's recipe is perfect for those instances where you are all done baking & making but you still need something to take to a neighbor, party, or friend.  This is the solution!  Easy, relatively quick (putting the pan in the refrigerator will help it to harden and set up quicker), and just 4 ingredients.  It turned out delicious!

You can use whatever chocolate you like - milk, dark, bittersweet, whatever is in the cupboard.  I used a 9x13 pan (but I think a larger pan would have yielded thinner pieces of bark in the end) and it made two small boxes of bark.

Peppermint Bark

1 lb chocolate chips
1 lb white chocolate chips
1/2 cup crushed candy cane
peppermint extract

Line a pan with parchment paper or waxed paper.  Melt the chocolate chips and spread evenly on the lined pan.  Let it cool and set (this will go quicker in the refrigerator).  Melt the white chocolate chips and add some peppermint extract (a few drops to start, taste it and add more if you want).  Spread the melted white chocolate in an even layer over the other chocolate.  Sprinkle with the crushed candy cane and press on it a little bit to make the candy cane stick into the white chocolate.  Let it all set up and then break it into pieces.