Full of Flowers and Heart Shaped Boxes

Monday, 5 December 2011

5.12.11 - Vegan Peppermint Bark

I really am bad at keeping this updated.
Anyway, here's a recipe (if you can call something this simple that) for vegan bark.

finished peppermint

I set out to make peppermint bark, which I did. I also made some almond bark since my mother isn't a fan of mint & chocolate together.

Here's what you need:
- vegan chocolate chips. I used a bag & a half because that's what I had around. But really you can use however much you want.
- vegan butter. This is optional really. I like adding butter to chocolate I'm melting because it makes it a better consistency and I find it's easier to not burn butter.
- peppermint candy. I used 7 candy canes. (and about a cup and a half of almonds.)
- a baking tray.
- parchment paper or tin foil.

this is the most delicious vegan butter I've ever had.

Here's what you do:

Get a pot on the stove over a low heat for double boiling & put your chocolate chips and butter in a metal (or something else that won't melt) bowl and get it over the water. stir frequently.

melting the chocolate

Put your peppermint candy in a plastic bag and smash it up. I used the metal container I keep almonds in, but anything would do. Probably a small hammer would do best. I wasn't very even in my crushing, but that's also up to you. I did the same for the almonds.

crushed peppermints

crushed almonds

Cover your baking tray with tin foil or parchment paper. I used tin foil, but only because I was out of PP at the time.

Once your chocolate had melted to the point where it's pourable (Ok, so I never got to that point. I don't know if it was the vegan chocolate (I'd never melted it before) or if I had the water too hot at the beginning or what but it only got mushy, never pourable. I worked with it and just used a spoon & my hands to push it onto the tray and smooth it out as much as possible. So it's your call on that, at least until I try it again) you should pour it onto the tray. I think the thinner it is the better, but the rest of my family all liked the thinker parts. So it's up to you. Obviously the thinner it is the more you've made. I probably could have done a whole other tray if I'd kept it about a millimetre thick.

Take your peppermint (or almonds, or whatever) and sprinkle over the chocolate as thickly as you please. Gently press on it with the flat of your hand so it sinks slightly.

pressing the mint into the chocolate

I then popped it in the freezer for about 20 minutes to set.

this is right before I broke it into pieces.

Once it's out break it into pieces and serve.

finished almond

Keep it in the fringe, I found it started to melt a little if it was left out.

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Enjoy!

Friday, 11 November 2011

11.11.2011

I want to start doing monthly phone photo posts.

I'm not going to lie, one of my favourite parts of having an iPhone is always having a camera in my pocket. And boy do I use it. I'm more than a little addicted to Instagram (my name's lovesigne, you should follow me if you like pictures of cats!)
But, since it's raining like crazy here (it's been pouring for over 12 hours. My whole yard is a shallow lake right now) and I've yet to edit my outfit photos from yesterday I figured I'd take this moment to post all my phone photos since I got my phone in April. By 'all' I actually mean 'a fraction of'.

Ah, as I finished writing this it turned 11.11, making this 11.11 am on 11/11/11 :)