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