This easy recipe for chocolate peppermint bark is truly super easy. There’s no need to buy it at all. It takes just 3 ingredients main ingredients and up to 5 ingredients if you want more flavor (peppermint extract) and best texture (vegetable oil). That’s it, just 3-5 ingredients and you have an instant holiday dessert that is both wonderful for yourself and for gifting. All you need is a little box, some pretty tissue paper and a bow. Voila, what you have is a quick and easy Christmas gift delight for everyone on your list. It’s also easier on the pocket book to make it homemade than to buy it.

Chocolate Peppermint Bark with crushed candy canes

Easy Chocolate Peppermint Bark Recipe

Chocolate peppermint bark is one of the best food gifts to share during Christmas. Best of all, Santa would love these! It has plenty of chocolate for Santa. It only takes 5 ingredients and a little bit of time. You can choose either milk chocolate or dark chocolate morsels to melt. Then it’s topped with white chocolate and crushed peppermint candy. That’s why it’s super popular and loved by everyone during Christmas.

Video: Chocolate Peppermint Bark – For those on your Naughty/Nice Lists:

Milk or Dark Chocolate Bark?

You can just use one layer of chocolate if you like. So if you’re only wanting the milk or dark chocolate, then just top it with the crushed peppermint candy as soon as you spread the chocolate layer. Or toasted chopped nuts if you prefer. Or if you’re just a fan of white chocolate, you can just do one layer too. But you want the full bite of two layers of chocolate, then go for the gusto and make it the double layer of bark-love.

Chocolate Peppermint Bark Recipe that's Easy and Delicious baking sheet pan

Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Yield: 20 servings
Prep Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour
The hardest part about this recipe is melting the chocolates. Easy right?! Feel free to melt using your preferred method, whether in a bowl over a small pot of boiling water or by the microwave. Here's a link showing both methods. Either way make sure not to overheat the chocolate or it will seize up. Also make sure there isn't any water in your bowl that the chocolates are melted in, or else the chocolate may seize up. Stir well while melting or in between microwave sessions. Take your time and and don't rush the heating to melt the chocolate and it will come out amazing!
Makes about 1.5 lbs of bark
5 from 11 votes

{click on stars to rate}

PRINT RECIPE Review Save to Pinterest

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces (340 g) chocolate chips (2 cups) or chopped chocolate chunks
  • 12 ounces (340 g) white chocolate chips (2 cups) or chopped white chocolate chunks
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) peppermint extract , divided
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vegetable oil , divided (or other neutral tasting oil)
  • 1/2 cup (120 ml) crushed peppermint candy or candy canes (about 4 candy canes worth)

Instructions 

  • If needed, crush the peppermint candies or candy canes. To crush, place the unwrapped candies in a zip-lock or similar plastic bag (preferably the thicker freezer bags), and crush with a rolling pin, big spoon, or meat mallet.
    Crushing candy canes in a bag with a spoon
  • Stir together the chocolate chips, 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract, and 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil in a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave the chocolate chips on High in increments of about 20 seconds, stirring well in between microwave sessions. Keep melting and stirring (make sure to stir well in-between microwave sessions) until all the chocolate chips are melted and smooth. Don’t overheat the chocolate.
    stirring melted chocolate in a glass bowl
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or wax paper. Tip: to keep the paper from moving on the baking sheet, dot a bit of the melted chocolate in each corner of the baking sheet to secure the paper. 
    Parchment lined baking sheet pan secured by melted chocolate dots
  • Pour and then spread the melted chocolate evenly over the parchment paper (it should make a 9×12 inch rectangle-depending on how thick you prefer the chocolate layer to be). Chill the chocolate layer in the fridge for about 10 minutes, or until the chocolate is almost set. Don't let it set completely or else the next layer will likely separate.
    Spreading melted chocolate on parchment paper
  • Stir together the white chocolate, 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract, and 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil in a large microwave safe bowl. Repeat the same melting procedure as above for the white chocolate (Microwave the white chocolate chips on High in increments of about 20 seconds, stirring well in between microwave sessions. Keep stirring until melted and smooth. Don’t overheat. – white chocolate will usually be thicker than the regular chocolate, so make sure you stir well to smooth and melt the white chocolate vs trying to just microwave it to melt it).
    Stirring melted white chocolate in glass bowl
  • When white chocolate is melted, pour and gently spread it over the chocolate mixture (work fairly quickly – especially if the room is cool – as the white chocolate will usually set quicker than regular chocolate – if it sets before you have spread it all the way, you can use a hair dryer to gently warm the top to help soften the white chocolate (try not to heat the regular chocolate or else they will smear together as you spread) and then finish spreading the white chocolate). Immediately sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top. Gently press the peppermint candy into the white chocolate.
    Sprinkling crushed candy canes on chocolate bark
  • Return the pan to the fridge and chill for about 1 hour, or until the bark is completely solid.
    Chocolate bark chilling on sheet pan
  • Gently loosen the peppermint bark from the parchment and allow the bark to soften to room temperature for at least 30 minutes (especially if the bark has been in the fridge for more than a few hours). Break or cut the bark into large pieces. Allowing the bark to come to room temperature before breaking ensures that the layers to bond together better so that when you break the bark, the two layers don’t separate.
    enjoy!
    Broken pieces of chocolate peppermint bark

Video

YouTube video

Nutrition Information per Serving

Calories: 201kcal, Carbohydrates: 24g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 4mg, Sodium: 34mg, Potassium: 156mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 19g, Vitamin A: 5IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 85mg, Iron: 1mg
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Calories: 201

Do you have to use the peppermint extract?

Using the peppermint extract isn’t required as the peppermint candies will give a nice flavor to the bark. But using the peppermint extract adds a wonderful extra flavor of peppermint and our test kitchen loved the heightened layer of chocolate peppermint flavor. We’re pretty certain Santa would love this version too and make sure to leave him an extra little box to take to Mrs. Santa.

Why the oil in the recipe?

The oil softens the chocolate just a little, giving a nice bite rather than being hard and too snappy. It also makes the chocolate easier to spread. The recipe will work fine without it, but it makes things a little easier and nicer?

What’s the best chocolate to use for the peppermint bark?

The best chocolates to use are the bars or blocks of chocolate. Brands like Ghirardelli, Guittard, or Baker’s brand bars. Trader Joe’s has their great Pound Plus bars which are delicious for the money. Bars will be a bit more work as you’ll need to chop them up into chunks to make melting even and easier, but the flavor it usually the best. Whether to use milk or dark chocolate is always an individual preference, but we prefer the flavor or dark chocolate with the peppermint the best

Chocolate chips and white morsels are fine to use, but they nearly all contain stabilizers to maintain their shape when baked in cookies, which does prevent them from melting into a super smooth texture. There are a lot of great tasting chocolate chips and morsels on the market now.

Some of our favorite and easy to find chocolate chips are:

Guittard Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip
Guittard Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip
Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips
Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips
365 by Whole Foods Dark Chocolate Chunks
365 by Whole Foods Dark Chocolate Chunks
Nestle Toll House Dark Chocolate Morsels
Nestle Toll House Dark Chocolate Morsels

Candy melts are great for cake pops and other similar recipes, but you’ll really notice the flavor difference when they are the main ingredient as they are in the peppermint bark recipe. Personally they would be our last option.

What is best to spread the bark onto?

We’ll most often like to use a piece of parchment paper on top of a baking sheet pan. Tip – Use a few little dabs of chocolate on the bottom of the parchment to keep it from sliding around when spreading the chocolate. With the baking sheet pan, it is easy to make the bark as thin or thick as you prefer (we usually will spread it out to about 9×13 rectangle which is about 3/4th’s the dimension of a regular baking sheet pan (commercial half sheet pan size) and it’s a little easier to spread with a spatula since the sides are low).

A 9×9 baking pan (or 8×8 if you like the bark thick) or even a 9×13 baking dish lined with parchment work great too. You can also the pans or baking sheets with foil instead of parchment paper. Whichever pan you use, line them with parchment or foil. It will make removing and breaking the bark much easier.

Happy Holidays everyone and hope you enjoy making a ton of this peppermint bark for all your friends and loved ones!

Other Great Holiday Recipes

This recipe was originally published in 2016 and re-published in 2023.