My friend Shelley was inspired to make some beautiful peppermint chocolate snowflakes after seeing this post. She posted about hers on Facebook and I was pretty excited to try them, too! I couldn’t find a snowflake mold, so I improvised with this Wilton silicone mold instead. I also changed the recipe a little, so I’ll include that here as well.

Candy Cane Chocolate Bark
 

1C milk or dark chocolate melting wafers (I used milk chocolate Merckens I found at Bulk Barn)

1C white chocolate melting wafers
1/2tsp pure peppermint extract
1/4C crushed candy canes (you can buy this at Bulk Barn, too, or crush your own. They also sell candy cane powder there, but that’s not good for these chocolates)

1. Melt the milk or dark chocolate wafers. I did so in the microwave, in 30 second intervals. You could also use the double-boiler method. Stir well after each 30 second melt session. It only took a minute total to melt the chocolate to a smooth consistency.

2. Shelley gave a great tip for filling the mold: pour the melted chocolate into Ziploc baggies and trim the corner off, so you can neatly fill each mold. So now, fill each mold with a thin layer of chocolate. (You don’t want the end results to be too thick, so fill it about 1/8″.)

3. Let it set. I popped the tray into the freezer for a minute, but you could use the fridge, or even just let it set or a few minutes on the counter if you’re not in a rush.

4. Once set, sprinkle each chocolate with some of the crushed candy cane pieces.

 
5. Melt your white chocolate the same way as you did the brown chocolate.

6. As you did before, pour some white chocolate into each mold, about 1/8″ thick.

7. Immediately, sprinkle more crushed candy cane onto the chocolate. You want to put this layer of candy on while the white chocolate is still liquid so it sticks.

8. Chill them till hardened.

9. Gently turn the mold over and pop each chocolate out onto a plate.

That’s it! The whole thing takes less than a half hour from start to finish, and the results are beautiful and delicious.

Maple-Rum Cookies with Candied Bacon

These are going to blow your mind, they’re so amazing. I had some leftover bacon bits (real bacon, Kirkland brand from Costco) from when we made party-sized Casear salads recently, so I figured I could candy them and experiment with some of the recipes I’ve seen online. So here’s what I ended up doing.

Candied Bacon

1.Preheat oven to 400°F

2. Spread 3C of bacon bits on a foil-lined baking sheet.

3. Sprinkle 1/4C brown sugar over the bacon bits.

4. Drizzle 4tbs of real maple syrup over the bits.

5. Mix together well to cover all bits with the sugary goodness, then spread in an even layer across the sheet.

6. Bake for 5 minutes on middle rack.

7. Broil at 500°F (staying on middle rack) till bits are sizzling and the maple syrup/brown sugar is bubbling. Remove from oven, and leave out to harden a bit. They end up crisp on the outside, soft on the inside.

You can use these in baked goods or as toppings on desserts like ice cream. For now, set them aside to use in these cookies:

Maple-Rum Cookies

1C softened salted butter
2C packed brown sugar
2 eggs (NOTE: If you have an egg allergy, you can substitute applesauce here. For every egg a recipe calls for, I use 1/4C of applesauce instead.)
1 tsp pure maple syrup
2tsp rum (the darker the better!)
2.5C all-purpose flour
3/4tsp salt
1tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. In a large bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar and eggs (or applesauce if you’re subbing).

3. Add in the rum and maple syrup.

4. In a second bowl, mix all the dry stuff together.

5. Mix the wet and the dry.

6. When dough is fully mixed, roll into 1″ diameter balls and place on a non-stick cookie sheet about 1.5″ apart. When I usually make cookies, I make them slightly larger, but given the flavour of these ones, they’re best a little smaller.

7. Press a pinch of candied bacon bits into the top of each dough ball prior to baking. This is really to taste, see the photo for the amount I pressed into each cookie.

8. Bake till edges are just barely turning brown. They may seem undercooked because they’re so soft when you remove them from the oven, but trust me: when cooled, these are the best consistency. Takes about 10 minutes. This recipe yielded 70 cookies!

9. Let them cool completely before eating.

These are cookie equivalent of crack, you have been warned.

Are you doing any baking these days? I love having new recipes, so be sure to share your links!