Chocolate Candy Cane Bark Cookies

These were my favourite goodie I baked this Christmas. Inspired by Heidi at 101 Cookbooks, I took the most delicious Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, made my own candy cane bark, broke it up and added that to the dough instead of chocolate chips. (And on a sidenote, I really want to try out Heidi's chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses only whole wheat pastry flour - same link!) I was really paranoid about giving out this cookie to friends because I knew it wasn't the kind of cookie that was made to last for a week before eating. I couldn't hold back from telling some of my friends to make sure they ate that one first!

When I first tried the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, I wasn't sure if it was everything I was looking for in a chocolate chip cookie. But I keep going back to it and trying different add ins, and I love the cookies every time so something must be good! One of the friends I gave this cookie to said she really liked it, partly because the candy cane pieces on the bottom of the cookie caramelized. I wasn't sure how I would like candy pieces in a cookie (I thought they'd annoyingly get stuck in my teeth while I was enjoying the cookie) but I crushed the candy cane up fairly fine and there were on mishaps.

The bark was really easy to make and addictive, especially since I used Callebaut chocolate. Yum yum. This is a very loose and easy to modify recipe for chocolate candy cane bark. Just do equal amounts of milk chocolate and white chocolate, and sprinkle however many candy cane pieces that you think looks good on top.

I think that actually sums up my Christmas baking posts. I made eggnog bars and strawberry shortbread cookie bark for just general eating at home. To give away, I made these chocolate candy cane bark cookies, peanut butter fudge, earl grey shortbread, snickerdoodles (which held up surprisingly well and didn't dry out too much), and gingerbread. I was really happy with how everything turned out, except for the gingerbread. Why I keep inflicting super molasses-y gingerbread on people at Christmas, I don't know. I'll probably be posting about that cookie soon.

Candy Cane Bark

Makes about 2 cups of candy cane bark pieces, or just a bunch of bark to eat.

1/2 lb milk chocolate
1/2 lb white chocolate
10 mini candy canes, crushed

Melt milk chocolate in a double boiler. Spread evenly on a parchment paper lined baking sheet (about 0.5 cm thick - you could make it thinner or thicker based on your preference though.) Allow to cool completely. Melt white chocolate in a double boiler. Spread evenly on the milk chocolate layer (try to work quickly as the hot white chocolate will start to melt the milk chocolate - this could probably be minimized by freezing the milk chocolate first?) Immediately after you finish the white chocolate layer, evenly sprinkle on the candy cane pieces. Put the baking sheet in the freezer until very firm. Break into whatever size pieces you want, or chop it up.