Love our new Peppermint Bark coffee? The candy is fun to make, especially the part when you take out your holiday stress on a bag of mints. Working with melted chocolate can be a little tricky, which is why we like this recipe adapted from Jessica In The Kitchen. The addition of coconut oil helps the chocolate behave nicely. Seizing can be an issue when adding peppermint extract to melted white chocolate, but follow this recipe and you won’t have to find out what that means. Give it as gifts, serve it to guests, eat it all by yourself with a cup of coffee. ‘Tis the season.

Ingredients

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 ounces white chocolate chips
1 teaspoon coconut oil
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup Starlight Mints, crushed

Directions

• Line an 8-inch baking dish with foil.
• Microwave the semi-sweet chocolate chips and ¼ teaspoon coconut oil together in a bowl for 1 minute. Remove and stir. The chips should melt with stirring but if not, microwave in 15 second increments until melted. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract into the chocolate and stir again.
• Pour the chocolate mixture into the bottom of the baking dish and spread to cover. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes to set temporarily.
• After 15 minutes have passed, Melt the white chocolate and the  remaining coconut oil for 1 minute in the microwave. Remove and stir. Microwave for another 15 seconds if not melted, then stir again. Stir in the remaining peppermint extract. Remove the baking dish from the freezer and pour the white chocolate mixture over the solidified semi-sweet chocolate in the baking dish.
• Sprinkle with the crushed mints and place in the fridge.
• Break apart into pieces once the bark has set and store in the fridge.
  Store in the refrigerator.

The season of gift giving and holiday parties has almost begun. This recipe is for you industrious DIYers and agoraphobics getting a jump start on gift-making in within the comforting confines of your home. Coffee liqueur is very easy to make and so worth the effort, you may never bother with the store bought stuff again. Make it with your favorite fresh roasted coffee (we like it with a mellow dark roast), and experiment with vodka or flavored vodka if rum is not your thing. We recommend making extra for yourself while you’re at it.

Ingredients

4 cups light rum

1 cup freshly ground dark roasted coffee (we used a standard autodrip grind)

2 whole vanilla beans

2 cups water

2 cups brown sugar

Directions

Bring the water and brown sugar to a boil and simmer, stirring, for three minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour into an air tight container like a large mason jar and add the remaining ingredients. Store, sealed, in a cool dark place for 4 weeks, shaking every few days. If you like the flavor at that point, strain it, or let it mellow for another week or two. We used a coffee filter inside a mesh strainer to remove the grounds. The finished product will keep for much longer than it will take you to drink it.