Zoe Burmester concludes her series of delicious sweet treats which would be perfect for gifting, favours or even as dessert table fillers - all linked to seasons and events in the year. She delves into homemade sticky sweets, chocolates, confections and more, always with an eye on how they can be turned into presentable gifts.
PEPPERMINT REINDEER BARS
Peppermint bark is a hugely popular confection at Christmas time - especially with our American cousins. And why not? It is a doddle to make and it requires very few ingredients - the star ingredient of course, being peppermint.
For hundreds of years, peppermint was used to treat stomach issues and was added to medicines to cover up any of the nasty bitter tastes they may have had. What started as a throat lozenge became a candy making business all of its own and peppermint sweets, candies and sticks have been enduringly popular since the early 1900s.
The cheery red and white striped sweet is now fully synonymous with Christmas and has spawned many festive treats such as peppermint hot chocolate, peppermint cake and peppermint bark.
The minty chocolate bark was credited to the US Homeware retail giant Williams Sonoma who introduced pretty tins of the stuff to the happy Christmas consumer nearly twenty years ago and has since become a bit of a cult phenomenon over the pond. The brief at the time was to create a confection that harked back to a cosy nostalgia of Christmas time. Red and white striped peppermint and rich chocolate ticked the boxes and when the product was launched in 1998 it sold out immediately. Since then, the company has released new iterations of their famous bark including one made with sea salt but the original still endures.
As an enthusiast of American traditions and baking I thought these would make the perfect little treats or gifts at Christmas time. I have taken the bark idea further by making mini chocolate bars and have played around with the theme by adding in some reindeer faces for a little fun.