Holiday Peppermint Popcorn Bark
Sweet and salty, with a hint of peppermint, this Holiday Peppermint Popcorn Bark will be a hit at your next holiday get together.
The holiday season is in FULL SWING on the internet. Blogs are bursting with cookies, homemade gifts, holiday cocktails and giveaways. You name it and us bloggers have got you covered. I’m no different. I’ve got some great pepperminty festive recipes coming your way. And a couple with cranberries too.
First up is this holiday peppermint popcorn bark. It might look familiar to you. I basically took this holiday popcorn bark that I made for Valentine’s Day earlier this year and tweaked it to work for the winter holidays by replacing the melted white chocolate with melted candy cane Hershey’s kisses.
This creates a subtle peppermint flavor that pairs with the chocolate, popcorn and pretzels just perfectly. I chose to use dark chocolate red and green M&Ms, but you could also use the festive peppermint M&Ms if you’d like.
I made a double batch of this stuff last weekend to take to a gingerbread house party we went to. It was a big hit and I got multiple requests for the recipe. One thing to note. If you use microwave popcorn, use a lightly salted butter-free variety so the flavors don’t interfere with the intent of this treat.
One Year Ago: Pecan Pie Brownies
Two Years Ago: White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
Three Years Ago: Holiday Bakeoff
Four Years Ago: S’mores Cookie Bars
Five Years Ago: Black Bean Cakes and Cinnamon Pork with Sweet Potatoes
Six Years Ago: Pizza Roll and Frito Candy
Holiday Peppermint Popcorn Bark
Sweet and salty, with a hint of peppermint, this Holiday Peppermint Popcorn Bark will be a hit at your next holiday get together.
Ingredients:
8 cups popcorn (equal to 1 bag microwave popcorn)
3 cups pretzel sticks, broken in half
8 oz candy cane kisses, unwrapped
1 1/2 cups dark M&Ms (or peppermint M&Ms)
3 oz or 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup sprinkles
Directions:
Pop corn according to package directions.
Put popped corn and pretzel pieces into a large bowl. Make sure to get all of the unpopped kernels out.
Melt candy cane kisses in a microwave safe bowl in 20 second increments, stirring in between, until melted.
Pour melted candy cane kisses over popcorn mixture and mix with your hands to coat completely. Pour onto a wax paper or parchment paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with M&Ms. Mix a little more to incorporate M&Ms.
Melt bittersweet chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted. Drizzle over popcorn bark. Sprinkle sprinkles over popcorn.
Allow to cool and break into large pieces.
Recipe from Beantown Baker
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I too didn’t have a pan big enough for a water bath. I just cooked it for 1 hour and 30 minutes and then let it cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. I didn’t even cool it in the oven. I haven’t tasted it yet, so I don’t know if it turned out ok…but it looks just like my other that I made.
Hey if it tastes good who cares what it looks like?!
Regardless of how it looks, it’s the taste that matters! My cheesecakes look similar when I don’t do a water bath. Another idea with cheesecake is to make cheesecake truffles with leftovers (that is, if you even have any!) 🙂
If you get an answer to your cake running over problem would you mind sharing it? I had the same problem, despite the fact my pan met Dorie’s requirements. I’m also curious where I went wrong.
I’ve had similar problems, especially with the cracking, which I believe is from cooking too long. Once I started taking cheese cakes out based on time and not appearance the problem went away. I think a lot of cooking still takes place from the internal heat…just a theory…BTW, great marble effect on your cake!
Aawwww poor little cheesecake. To be honest I am not sure why your cheesecake fell but I know when I make cheesecake mine always bakes more evenly when I use a water bath also if the internal temperature reaches 160F (don’t quote me) it starts to make the cheesecake crack. Maybe next time don’t bake it as long? Either way taste is the most important IMO. 🙂
Clara @ iheartfood4thought