One of my new years resolutions was to use London more, living in London is something I take very much for granted. When I first moved to London I was all about exploring, always checking Time out for the latest batch of things to do in the city, but the last few months things have slipped - I increased my hours at work, the nights drew in and I find myself sitting in front of Netflix far to often!!
I've not done amazingly well in January, I guess you could say I'm easing myself in gently, this has involved; Borough Market wandering's, Balham charity shops (love, love, love), Soho burgers and most recently Jessie Ware at the Brixton Academy.
I must be one of the few people who had never been to the Brixton Academy before, it was such an amazing venue and one I'll certainly be going back to. The floor is sloped so wherever you choose to stand you get a view of the stage, perfect for those who like me can't cope with squishing towards the front and the stage itself has an almost theatre like feel, featuring balconies and turrets.
Jessie was of corse amazing, I was lucky enough to see her a few years ago at Latitude festival and we were determined to see her again, especially since her new album was released last year, and she did not disappoint.
February I'm determined to rack up my London outings - watch this space!
This recipe follows on (kind of) from last weeks Candy Cane recipe, as this is where a lot of my candy canes ended up, however you don't need have made the candy canes to make the peppermint bark - any style of boiled mint can be used.
Peppermint bark is essentially three layers of melted chocolate with crushed mints on the top - a super simple recipe that tastes AMAZING, of all the sweets I made my fam for Christmas Peppermint Bark was certainly the fav.
Ingredients:
-200g White Chocolate
-100g Milk or Dark Chocolate
-Boiled Peppermints (The amount can vary depending upon your pepperminty desires)
-Peppermint Flavouring
*You can alter the kinds of chocolate used to match your preferences, as well as the quantities if you wanted to make a larger(or smaller) batch.
First, line a dish with parchment paper, ready to pour in the first layer of chocolate. Begin by melting 100g of the white choc, when fully melted pour into the dish, ensure it creates an evenly spread layer spanning the dish. Being ever impatient I didn't wait for the white choc to fully set before adding my next layer, I think this worked well though, it allowed the flavours to merge more and created some pretty effects with the chocolate.
Onto the next layer, melt the milk chocolate, but this time before pouring into the dish add a few drops of peppermint flavouring, stir in briefly, ensuring the chocolate doesn't become lumpy, then pour over the white chocolate. Make sure again that it spans the dish in a nice even layer, covering the white, not to worry if it's not covered completely has the third layer still needs to be added.
Repeat step one, melting the second white bar and pour over. Yay, now you have your lovely chocolatey base, I loved the amount of melting chocolate involved in this recipe has it meant I got to lick the bowl so many times - love love love melted choc.
You'll now want to crush your peppermints, or perhaps have them prepared beforehand. I used the end of a wooden spoon to crush mine, although I'm sure a rolling pin would be just as effective. When crushed sprinkle the peppermints over the choc, no need to wait for the choc to set as you'll want to peppermints to sink in. Push the peppermints into the chocolate gently to ensure there in place and won't fall out when the chocolates set.
Leave the bark to set now, in a few hours you'll have a gorgeous slap of minty-ness, when fully set break into pieces, and there you have it peppermint bark!
