Holiday Baking: How to make Christmas Tree Peppermint Bark

Christmas Tree Peppermint Bark makes a fun homemade holiday gift!

Holiday baking season is in full swing! I’ve made peppermint bark a few times in the past, and it’s always a huge hit! It’s ridiculously easy to make yet an indulgent luxurious looking treat that’s great for gifting! This time I decided to try something a little different rather than just breaking up a piece of the bark…..I used cookie cutters! and made Christmas Tree Peppermint Bark

Peppermint bark is ridiculously easy to make. Use cookie cutters for Christmas Tree Peppermint Bark and you have an indulgent luxurious looking treat that’s great for gifting! Get directions and recipe at cetcu.com

How to make Christmas Tree Peppermint Bark with Cookie Cutters

What You Need………

You can use many different variations on this, but here are the basics:

Cookie Cutters – Any cookie cutters will work. The smaller metal ones work nicely because you can clean them up and gift them along with the bark. (Christmas trees, snowflakes, stars and gingerbread men would all be cute too)

Decorator Bag – I melted the chocolate right in the 12″ disposable decorator bag, then squeezed the chocolate

into all the nooks and crannies of my cookie cutter.

Chocolate – For this project, I used the Wilton Candy Cane Melts and Ghirardelli Chocolate Baking Bar. You can use any kind of chocolate you like, but good quality chocolate will yield a better tasting bark. I like the Wilton Candy Cane Candy Melts because they’re already peppermint flavored, so no need to add peppermint extract.

Crushed Candy Cane – you can buy a package of candy canes and crush them, or I found crushed candy cane pieces in the baking aisle of my grocery store.

Parchment or Waxed paper lined baking sheet

Cellophane treat bags , Ribbon and tags– Clear cellophane bags, ribbon, and a cute tag turn your peppermint bark into the perfect holiday gift!

Instructions for making Christmas Tree Peppermint Bark…

printable recipe and instructions at end of this post

Place the cookie cutters in the refrigerator until ready to fill.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper.

Place Ghirardelli Chocolate pieces in decorator bag (filling about 1/2 way), twist top of the bag, place in microwave on 50% power for 30 seconds. Remove bag and “knead” chocolate. Place bag back in microwave and repeat until chocolate is melted.

Remove cookie cutters from refrigerator and place on lined baking sheet.

Snip the tip off the end of the decorator bag

Use the chocolate-filled bag to pipe the chocolate into the cookie cutters (you may need to hold onto the cookie cutter while you do this). Be sure to get into all of the corners.

Place pan of chocolate-filled cookie cutters into the freezer for about 10 mins. for the chocolate to “set”.

Place *Wilton Candy Cane Burst Melts into decorator bag, and repeat as you did for chocolate.

Remove pan from freezer, snip the tip of the decorator bag and pipe the Candy Cane Burst Melts on top of the Ghirardelli chocolate.

Sprinkle with Crushed Candy Cane pieces.

Place in freezer for about 10 mins. to set.

Once the chocolate has hardened, remove from the cookie cutters by gently pressing with your thumbs.

Wrap a few pieces of bark in a clear cellophane bag tied with ribbon, attach clean cookie cutter and a cute tag!

If you’re using a decorative box or tin, put a piece of wax paper in that covers the bottom and sticks over the sides. Once you’ve filled the container, flip the wax paper over the top and cover. If you’re using a plate, or a cute dish, like I found at Michaels, arrange the bark and cover with plastic wrap.

Will keep in the fridge for 5-6 weeks.

*if you can’t find the Wilton Candy Cane Burst melts, you can follow my other recipe for Peppermint Bark using peppermint extract.

Peppermint bark is ridiculously easy to make. Use cookie cutters for Christmas Tree Peppermint Bark and you have an indulgent luxurious looking treat that’s great for gifting! Get directions and recipe at cetcu.com

Christmas Tree Peppermint Bark

Yield: varies depending on cookie cutter size
Active Time: 15 minutes
Chill Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Peppermint bark is ridiculously easy to make. Use cookie cutters for Christmas Tree Peppermint Bark and you have an indulgent luxurious looking treat that’s great for gifting!

Ingredients

Cookie Cutters
2 Decorator Bags
Chocolate (I used Ghirardelli Chocolate Baking Bars) But you can use any kind of chocolate you like. I like the
Wilton Candy Cane Color Burst Melts*
Crushed Candy Cane (crush your own or I like to use crushed candy cane pieces in the baking aisle)
Parchment or Waxed paper lined sheet pan
Clear Plastic Bags, Ribbon and tags (for gifting)

Instructions

Place the cookie cutters in refrigerator until ready to fill.
Line your baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper.
Place chocolate pieces in decorator bag (filling about 1/2 way), twist top of bag, place in microwave on 50% power for 30 seconds. Remove bag and “knead” chocolate. Place bag back in microwave and repeat until chocolate is melted.
Remove cookie cutters from refrigerator and place on lined baking sheet.
Snip the tip off the end of the decorator bag
Use the chocolate filled bag to pipe the chocolate into the cookie cutters (*you may need to hold onto the cookie cutter while you do this). Be sure to get into all of the corners.
Place the pan of chocolate filled cookie cutters into freezer for about 10 minutes for chocolate to “set”.
Place Wilton Candy Cane Burst Melts into another decorator bag, and repeat melting process as you did for chocolate.
Remove pan from freezer, snip the tip of the decorator bag and pipe the Candy Cane Burst Melts on top of the chocolate.
Sprinkle with Crushed Candy Cane pieces.
Place in freezer for about 10 minutes to set.
Once the chocolate has hardened, remove from the cookie cutters by gently pressing with your thumbs.
Wrap a few pieces of bark in a clear cellophane bag tie with ribbon, attach clean cookie cutter and a cute tag!
If you’re using a decorative box or tin, put a piece of wax paper in that covers the bottom and sticks over the sides. Once you’ve filled the container, flip the wax paper over the top and cover. If you’re using a plate, or cute dish, like I found at Michaels, arrange the bark and cover with plastic wrap.
Will keep in fridge for 5-6 weeks