Peppermint Bark

Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Finely chop the dark chocolate and the white chocolate. Place each in their own heatproof bowls. Reserve 1/4 cup of chopped dark and white chocolate, in separate containers.

In a double boiler or a saucepan on which the heatproof bowls of chocolate will sit snugly, heat a couple of inches of water. Remove the pan from the heat and place the bowl of dark chocolate on top of the saucepan.

Melt the dark chocolate, stirring occasionally. Once melted, remove the bowl from the double boiler, wiping the bottom of the bowl dry. "Seed" the melted chocolate by adding the reserved 1/4 cup finely chopped dark chocolate and stir until fully melted. Stir in the peppermint extract or peppermint oil.

Pour the melted dark chocolate onto the prepared pan, spreading the chocolate to ¼-inch thickness. Allow the chocolate to rest for 5 minutes, then sprinkle evenly with 2 tablespoons of the crushed candy. Set aside to continue to set.

Meanwhile, melt the white chocolate in the same way as you did the dark chocolate. Work quickly so that the dark chocolate layer does not fully set. After seeding the white chocolate and that is fully melted, pour it evenly over the dark chocolate layer and spread it to the edges of the dark layer beneath it. Before sprinkling the remaining crushed peppermint candy on the white layer, sift it in a fine mesh sieve to remove any candy dust, then sprinkle the tiny pieces evenly over the white chocolate layer.

Set the pan of bark in a cool spot to set until it is hardened, 30 to 60 minutes. Cut into pieces with a serrated knife.