Here’s a little sweet and salty twist on the ever popular peppermint bark for you. I love what a little butter cracker does for that creamy white chocolate and peppermint candy. It adds nice flaky crunch and a little salt to keep this crowd pleaser from being overly sweet.
And this one really couldn’t be easier! Get the kiddos in to help you crush up the candy and lay out the crackers while you use a double boiler to slowly melt the chocolate until it’s smooth and velvety. Yay teamwork.
On a side note, this peppermint bark is not overly minty. Some recipes add peppermint extract, but I prefer the peppermint flavor to be a little more mild. Peppermint bark makes a great teacher or neighbor gift. Just bag it up and add a pretty red ribbon and you are all set!
Butter Cracker Peppermint Bark
A thin layer of creamy white chocolate over a buttery, flakey cracker with soft peppermint candies on top.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 50 pieces 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 55 butter crackers
- 24 ounces white chocolate melting wafers or vanilla flavored candy coating
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vegetable or coconut oil
- 25 soft peppermint candies, crushed
- red and green sprinkles
Instructions
- Lay out the butter crackers on a Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bring an inch of water to a simmer in a small pot. Turn the heat to low, and place a heat safe bowl on top. The bowl should not touch the simmering water.
- Place the white chocolate and oil into the bowl, stir occasionally as it melts. Do not allow any moisture to go into the white chocolate or it may seize up. Be patient with the step.
- When the chocolate is completely smooth, stir in the peppermint oil (optional), and pour it over the crackers and gently spread it evenly over the top.
- While the white chocolate is still unset, add the crushed peppermint candies and sprinkles to the top.
- Place the bark in the fridge for an hour until set, and then break into pieces.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
I prefer not to microwave white chocolate because I’ve ruined one too many batches by trying to melt it too quickly. I find that the double boiler method takes longer, but is a safe way to go.
I love the sound of this recipe. I like everything peppermint and the salty with the sweet mint would be just my style. We are hosting Holiday Best at Tumbleweed Contessa. I’d love it if you shared this with us.
Linda
Love this recipe! Great idea adding crackers to bark.
Thank you Valya! I like to cut the sweetness of the white chocolate just a bit!
Omg this is such a great idea! I love the use of butter crackers in this recipe, never heard of it before! And these look so delicious and Christmas-y, love it!! Pinned!
Thank you Christina!
What a brilliant combination! I seriously ADORE butter crackers and love the use of them mixed with white chocolate and peppermint! It’s going on my Christmas baking list! Pinned! 🙂
Thank you Michelle. Hope you enjoy!
I know this sounds dense but what are butter crackers? Waverly’s? They don’t look like Ritz….
No that’s a great question! I’m not familiar with Waverly’s, but the ones I used are called Club crackers. Any plain rectangular or square cracker would be okay. I think Saltines would work too, but I like the butter flavor of the Club crackers.
Hi Julie! This looks like a perfect little gift for the teachers and staff at the school where I work. The last question was not dense at all, but these are going to be!… The white chocolate- is it almond bark? Coconut oil- what kind/type do you use? And lastly, once hardened, does the bark break easily and how do you make it look so uniform? Are each of your pieces about 2 crackers? Thanks!
Hi Laura! Yes, I have used almond bark and that will work great. This is the brand of coconut oil I have found at Walmart, and I have also used Trader Joe’s brand as well as the big container from Costco. I have learned that the “unrefined” coconut oil will have more of a coconut flavor than the “refined”. The purpose of adding oil (vegetable or canola is fine too) to the white chocolate is to keep it from setting so hard that it crumbles when you break it, or bite into it. I would say each piece is about two crackers, and I really just randomly broke it into pieces without too much thought. They might look more uniform in the pictures than in real life.
Thanks so much for the feedback! I’m going to try my hand at the bark this weekend. Hope it turns out as pretty as yours!
How much of the peppermint flavoring do you put in? Just a few drops?
Julie, 1/4 teaspoon should be just right.
What size pan did you use to lay the crackers on?
Hi Laura, my pan was 12 by 17 inches. Enjoy!
These look amazing! But I’m confused. What do I use for “soft” peppermint candies?
We buy ‘peppermint puffs’ that are more round/bulbous and similar in texture to buttermints. They almost melt in your mouth! That’s what I plan to use in this recipe. Bob’s Sweet Stripes mints is a brand I see in our stores around the holiday season. They’re my favorite! Walmart sells something similar, but the mints are slightly smaller. I think she’s directing us away from the hard disc peppermints, like Starlight mints, or candy canes. The super crunchy stuff!
How long does this keep? I’d like to make this…..2 weeks out and wondering if it will keep that long?
I haven’t kept it two weeks to know for sure, but one week should be just fine.