On the first day of Christmas...

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me... Peppermint candycanes!! 

And so she did. One of my closest friends, lets call her Miss.SuperEfficientGiffney, has mailed me an immense amount of candycanes! Which I am thrilled about! 

They are just a delicious candy on its own but you can also make many amazing treats with it. You can really put candycanes into everything. 

Say for example... Peppermint chocolate bark

Extremely delicious and easy to make! Nothing but chocolate(I used dark chocolate and white chocolate to give it some contrast) and crushed peppermint candycanes. The peppermint in the chocolate makes it so refreshing. 

I also found out through my experiments that peppermint meringues dipped in dark chocolate are delicious! 

    Source: www.bhg.com 

Get your favourite recipe for meringues (make sure you beat the mix well as it makes them stiffer) and switch its flavouring for peppermint candycanes. I crushed the candycanes roughly, you don't have to turn them into powder but you don't want very big pieces of it either. 

Bake them on parchemant paper or wax paper, they won't stick as much and it will be easier to remove them from the tray. I also like to undercook them, this makes them chewy but that is up to you and how you like your meringues. 

Last but not least, I dip them in dark chocolate. This process requires some patience as the meringues are very delicate and break easily. 

There are so many possibilities! 

Not in the mood for baking but feel like having something yummy and delicious? Try a nice hot chocolate and to make it that bit more delicious stir it with a peppermint cane :) 

Have a merry bake! 

Pumpkin madness series

I never knew there were so many sweet things I could make with pumpkin! 

I'm glad there are so many pumpkin lovers out there:) 

This time round I went for a recipe I had never seen... Pumpkin and chocolate chip bars. Pumpkin and chocolate?! Are you sure?! Lets see what Niki Segnit has to say about this flavour combination in her 'The flavour Thesaurus' (it's my bible)... Nothing. A flavour combination the book doesn't cover! Only one way to find out... Bake it! 

The veredict? I loved it!!! The pumpkin gives the bars a wonderful moister just like a carrot cake. And the chocolate? Delicious with pumpkin! 

I took some bars to work, my colleagues never say no to cake:p and it was a hit! Everyone seemed to enjoy it a lot. At home opinions were devided.. My dad loved it, my mum? Not much. But I became a fan and this recipe is a keeper. 

I took it from twopeasandtheirpod.com website. 

Here is the recipe: 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars 

Ingredients: 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

3/4 teaspoon salt 

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature 

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 large egg 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

1 cup canned pumpkin puree(not pumpkin pie filling) 

1 package(12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180C). Grease a 9-by-13 inch baking pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt: set aside. 

2. With a stand or electric mixer, cream butter, and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Add pumpkin puree and mix well. The mixture will look somewhat curdled. Reduce speed to low, and miz dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. 

3. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake bars for 35-40 min or until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moiat crumbs attached. 

4. Cool bars completely in pan. Cut into squares and serve. 

I always use salted butter so I never put in the salt. I also use my homemade vanilla extract(check out my 'vanilla vanilla vanilla' post on how to make it). 

Give it a try!! Bake away...