If you happened to catch our recent holiday cooking segment on Fox CT’s Mommy Minute, you may have been wondering what chocolate creation our little elves were helping us make?

My co-blogger Sarah and I chose a very kid-friendly recipe for chocolate peppermint bark.  Since we had six children ages 4 and under helping us in the kitchen that day, we figured that the key to success would be keeping it simple.  This is generally a good rule of thumb when cooking with the cuties.

Ingredients:  2 bags of chocolate chips and crushed up candy canes

You will want to crush the candy canes into small recognizable pieces before getting started.  We used a double boiler to melt the chocolate chips but you could just as easily melt the chocolate in the microwave.  Once the chocolate is melted, add the candy cane pieces and stir until well blended and then spread the mixture evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.    Make sure you save some pieces of candy cane to sprinkle over the top for a festive garnish.  Then, simply place the baking sheet in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens.  Break the chocolate into single-serving pieces and you are done! 

The chocolate peppermint bark can be packaged in colorful Christmas boxes or tins and makes an excellent gift for teachers, family members and neighbors.  You could even use this recipe for a cookie exchange.  You can also get creative using white chocolate or peanut butter chips and adding nuts or cookie crumbs instead of candy canes.  You can’t really go wrong since almost anything tastes good with chocolate!  It is worth noting that we used all nut-free ingredients for our chocolate peppermint bark so you can easily make a special holiday treat for a loved one with a peanut allergy.

 If this group of little “elves” can do it, so can you and yours!

A special thanks to Sarah Cody for a fun-filled afternoon!