Clara's Cooking | Dollar Tree Peppermint Bark Recipe

Ah yes, it's that time again! We all have holiday traditions, and one of ours is to have peppermint bark every year! This is more of a "cookie" like version, and we love and prefer it! It is definitely a SPLURGE as far as calories/fat go (ohhh right - so THAT'S the reason I don't make this year round! LOL ).

See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDROgtdIQ48

This is an easy recipe that is great to bring to parties or include in treat bags for family and friends (and of course Dollar Tree sells treat bags too).

ALL ingredients may be found at Dollar Tree (YES my Dollar Tree had Ghirardelli chocolate! WHOA!), but some are of better value elsewhere, like granulated sugar. NOTE: THE DOLLAR TREE'S PARCHMENT PAPER WORKS GREAT! Give it a try and tell me what you think of it!


Dollar Tree Peppermint Bark Recipe:


Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temp
1 cup sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
6-9oz bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 to 3/4 cup peppermint candies/candy canes chopped and partially crushed (make as course or fine as you prefer, or you can buy it already crushed for you)
Nonstick spray 
Parchment paper
13x9x2 inch baking sheet


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly spray baking sheet with nonstick spray. Line pan with parchment paper, leaving extra paper hanging over the sides of the pan.

2. Mix flour & salt in a large bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, use paddle attachment to cream the butter for about 2 minutes.

3.Add sugar little by little to butter mixture until light & fluffy. Slowly mix in vanilla extract, egg yolk, and flour mixture on low speed.

4. Place dough onto baking pan and form a thin layer using moistened fingertips to press and spread the dough. Pierce throughout with a fork.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until light brown. While crust is still warm, IMMEDIATELY spread chocolate chips on top, gently spreading across pan. The heat from the crust will melt the chips. Sprinkle the candies and carefully press slightly into the chocolate to stick - warning the chocolate will still be hot!

6. Put while chocolate in plastic and allow to sit in a bowl of hot water until melted. Cut a tiny corner of the bag and drizzle the while chocolate over the bark. Chill 1 hour.

7. Lift the bark via the parchment paper and transfer to a cutting board. Chop as desired.

What's your favorite holiday treat?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Love + light,

Clara

Dollar Tree Review - Chef Ernesto Vegetable Empanadas

Hi all! Time for another Dollar Tree Review!

I love when vegetarian products come to the Dollar Tree, so I had high hopes for this one. Plus, I thought their veggie burgers and samosas weren't too bad.

Each box contains four empanadas. I baked these at 350F for 5 minutes each side in the toaster oven. It had a good crisp skin but I'm not a fan of the texture inside. 

It's made primarily with black beans, so if you like black bean or lentil tostadas you might like these. Like the other Chef Ernesto products, it has Indian spices (which I normally LOVE), yet this time the taste fell flat.

It also was a bit dry so I ended up adding sweet chili sauce to make it a bit more appetizing.

Overall 6/10, and I would NOT buy it again.

What did you think of these?

Love + light,
Clara

Dollar Tree Learning Corner Tour & Organization

I posted a pic of this on IG awhile ago, and although this video has been on my "to-do" for over 6 months, it took a collaboration to get myself in gear!

A special THANK YOU to Jady A for inviting me to this collaboration, titled "Organized Children Spaces." I absolutely ADORE Jady A's channel and have for a long time (way before I started my own)! Check out her free printables for Early Childhood Learning at http://www.shelfwork.com.

This video takes you on a tour of most of the individual components of this system, and the star of the organizing show are Sterilite's standard shoe boxes. I originally bought the green ones from Dollar Tree, but lately have been finding them at Kroger or Family Dollar, also for $1 each. I like them way better than Dollar Tree Essentials' shoe boxes (I mention why in the video.

See video here: http://bit.ly/1HZecCK

Do you have tips and tricks to organize your child's learning spaces?

Love + light,
Clara