Al Dente

Lauren Chattman’s White Chocolate, Pistachio, and Peppermint Bark

Giving homemade gifts during the holidays is a wonderful way to show that you care, but it can also add a whole lot of work to your load at a time when you are already overwhelmed with other holiday-related chores. One year I nearly had a nervous breakdown, staying up past midnight four nights in a row to make hundreds of pecan squares for my daughters’ teachers. Unwilling to go the soap or coffee mug route the next year, I was determined to find an easier recipe for holiday giving. When I hit upon the idea of chocolate bark, I got really excited. Three ingredients and about 15 minutes of work will produce a festive white chocolate confection studded with bright green pistachios and chopped peppermint sticks that you can break up and pack in pretty cellophane bags. Yes, it’s expensive when made in large quantities, but think of it as a once-a-year indulgence for the special people in your life who really deserve something luxurious and who wouldn’t want you to stay up all night making it. The recipe can be doubled if you have a 9-by-15-inch baking pan, or even quadrupled if you have two of them.

White Chocolate, Pistachio, and Peppermint Bark
Adapted from Dessert Express: 100 Sweet Treats You Can Make in 30 Minutes or Less

Makes about 12 ounces

8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup shelled pistachios, chopped
1/3 cup chopped peppermint candies or candy canes

1.    Line an 8-inch-square baking pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Put it in the freezer while you prepare the bark.
2.    In a medium-size saucepan, bring 2 inches of water to a bare simmer. Put the chocolate in a stainless-steel bowl big enough to rest on top of the saucepan and set it over the pan, making sure it doesn’t touch the water. Heat, whisking a few times, until the chocolate is completely melted. Scrape the chocolate into the prepared pan and smooth into a thin layer with a metal spatula.
3.    Sprinkle the pistachios and peppermint candy on top of the chocolate and put the pan back in the freezer for 10 minutes.
4.    Lift the bark from the pan, pulling up on the foil, place it on a cutting board, and cut the bark into pieces before serving. The bark will keep in an airtight container for 1 week.

© Lauren Chattman, The Taunton Press, Inc., 2008

--Lauren Chattman

Lauren Chattman’s Candy-Coated Caramel Apples

In my house we mark every event with something sweet. Not only do we have special cookies for Christmas (Stained Glass Stars) and particular cakes for each one of our birthdays (New York Cheesecake for Eve; Triple Layer Chocolate Cake with Raspberries for Dad), but we have special treats for smaller occasions (First Day of School Sprinkle Cookies, Snow Day Hot Chocolate). These recipes foster a love of tradition, feelings of security, and a sense of delicious anticipation for whatever comes next.

Many of my children's favorite recipes are simple enough for them to make on their own, with just a little assistance from me. Every fall, my husband and I take them to the local apple orchard to pick up sacks of our favorite varieties grown locally. At our annual Halloween party (takeout pizza before trick-or-treating) we set out the apples right in their sacks. In the following weeks, we make apple tarts, apple sauce, and baked apples. Finally, when Thanksgiving approaches, the kids themselves make Candy-Coated Caramel Apples, to serve to their cousins along with the pumpkin and pecan pies. They were thrilled when I included the caramel apples in my new book, Dessert Express.

Candy-Coated Caramel Apples
Adapted from Dessert Express: 100 Sweet Treats You Can Make in 30 Minutes or Less
Makes 8

1 cup Reese’s Pieces
8 small apples, washed and dried
One 14-ounce bag Kraft Caramels
1/4 cup heavy cream

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Place the Reese’s Pieces in a bowl. Insert a craft stick into the stem end of each apple.
2. Put the unwrapped caramels and heavy cream in a medium-size, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat and stir until the caramels are melted and the mixture is smooth.
3. Hold an apple by its stick over the pot of caramel and spoon the caramel over the apple to coat, allowing the excess to drip back into the pot (if the caramel gets too stiff to spoon, reheat for a minute or two to loosen). Press the Reese’s Pieces into the apple and place, stick side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining apples, coating two apples in each type of candy. Let stand until the caramel has cooled, about 10 minutes.

© Lauren Chattman, The Taunton Press, Inc., 2008

--Lauren Chattman