2 great uses for candy canes

1.) Peppermint bark
This is my favorite Christmastime recipe! It's sooo easy and sooo delicious. And its perceived fanciness level is higher than the level of difficulty in making it.

Ingredients:

• 12 candy canes
• 1 lb vanilla almond bark*

* When I lived in California literally no grocery store knew what I was talking about when I asked for almond bark and they kept trying to sell me almonds. Umm no, almond bark is a chocolate-ish substance designed for melting. Technically nowhere on this package does it say almond bark, but, IDK, that's what my mom always called it.

I misread "CandiQuik" as "Candique" which sounds a lot fancier.

Anyway, all you do is crush all the candy canes. I used a dumbbell. Be careful because even if you put them in a nice Ziplock bag you'll probably still crush right through the bag and get candy cane dust on the counter. And if the counter is wet, the candy cane dust will melt into a pink crust that is really hard to get off the counter. Not that that exact thing happened to me OR ANYTHING.

Then, melt the almond bark, either in the microwave or in a double-boiler on the stove.

Then, add the crushed candy canes and pour it out on waxed paper on a flat surface.

Let it cool for about an hour (or put it in the fridge if you're in a hurry) and break it up into pieces. Oh, and some recipes will call for you to melt dark chocolate and drizzle it over the top. This does admittedly make it look even fancier, but I think it tastes better with just white chocolate. Also, some recipes call for you to add peppermint oil, but... let's be real, with 12 candy canes in there it is straight-up minty enough.

For an extra fancy touch, you can put it in festive little bags!

2.) Peppermint brownies

Again, the perceived fanciness here exceeds the difficulty level.

Ingredients:

• 1 box brownie mix and everything the box says you need to make said brownies (eggs, oil, whatev)
• 1 can buttercream frosting (or you can make the frosting yourself if you are like that)
• 1 tsp peppermint oil
• Crushed candy canes (I used 6)
• Red food coloring*

*Some might make a case for green here. I will only say that my college dining hall had green mint-frosted brownies that were universally referred to as "toothpaste brownies."

Make the brownies like usual and let them cool. MEANWHILE mix half the can of frosting in a bowl with the peppermint oil and food coloring until you get minty, appropriately-colored frosting. Frost the brownies and top with crushed candy canes. BAM.