Are you ready for National Peppermint Bark Day? We designed December 1st just for those of you who obsess over peppermint bark and the perfect recipe featuring your favorite seasonal treat, so it’s time to get pumped and stock up. Here are the eight recipes we get most excited about right now, including the three that crushed it (pun intended) at our Peppermint Bark-Off!
1. Erin Jeanne McDowell’s Peppermint Bark Biscuit Doughnuts
We’re almost pressed to say how Erin Jeanne McDowell hasn’t made an impact on the modern world of desserts. Her incredible biscuit-doughnut hybrids with the texture of a cronut are just the latest in her encyclopedia of delicious—and the winning recipe of the 2nd annual Peppermint Bark Off. Glazed in white chocolate, with bellies stuffed with chocolate-bark pudding, they feature a snowfall of bark and actual peppermint snow. (Crushed peppermints will do the trick, in a pinch!) They are incredible.
2. Britney Brown-Chamberlain’s Peppermint Bark Chocolate Cake
Some recipes are exactly as delicious as they look, and this is one of them. Britney conjured a Peppermint Bark chocolate cake recipe that has all the hallmarks of a heavy hitter: two layers of dense, olive oil–spiked chocolate cake feature a snowy buttercream cap. More minty than chocolatey, it’s a chocolate-and-mint lover’s dream come true.
3. Kate Wood’s Peppermint Bark Bread
You’ll find us in the corner at teatime snarfling Kate Wood’s Peppermint Bark Bread, thank you very much! The sort of treat we’d break corners off of any old time of day, it’s a decadent breakfast bread that feels like the love child of cinnamon bread and chocolate babka. It doesn’t get much better, folks.
4. Peppermint Bark Chocolate Doughnuts
So simple; so fantastic. These Peppermint Bark Chocolate Doughnuts feature a thin layer each of semisweet chocolate and white chocolate, with crushed peppermint candies studding their top. They’re fab by themselves, but also make a dramatic addition to many desserts. These will disappear in a flash from any holiday dessert buffet.
5. Pavlova
Who’d have thought of pavlova for layering with ganache peppermint bark? Our test kitchen is who. This makes an absolutely stunning centerpiece on a holiday table, and its textures are downright ethereal.
6. Peppermint Bark Ice Cream
You thought peppermint stick ice cream was divine? Meet your new love, Peppermint Bark Ice Cream. It’s as straightforward as folding chopped peppermint bark into plain vanilla ice cream, and we’d argue that it can show any other peppermint ice cream the door.
7. Tieghan Gerard’s Peppermint Brownie Crinkle Cookies
The wonderful Tieghan Gerard never fails to amaze us, and her Brownie Crinkle Cookies are no exception. Bittersweet chocolate, semisweet chocolate, and cocoa powder all make cameos in this genius recipe, and a full two cups of peppermint bark make it downright magical.
8. Spiked Hot Chocolate
Delight in vodka’s ability to become invisible in recipes in this Spiked Peppermint Bark Hot Chocolate. All you taste is divine layers of warming chocolate and peppermint. All you’ll have are sweet dreams of the holiday season.