Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Summer Solstice and a chocolate Christmas Tree


Christmas is upon us again! Angus has just dozed off on the armchair next to me, Hamish is boobing himself to sleep as I type and the big kids are out the back playing basketball. My father and his partner have flown down from Sydney to spend the silly season with us and meet the baby. All the food is prepped so there will only be very minimum cooking to do tomorrow. 

There's a flourless chocolate fruit cake on the cooling rack, and I just tipped a hip flask of brandy over it. The salads are prepped but will need dressing. We were planning on cooking some chickens but the shop had run out of them so we ended up with turkey (you'd think it'd be the other way around but no) and the turkey is in the fridge all stuffed and dressed, ready to bake with some kumara and potatoes. 

I've been asked to share the recipe for our famous chocolate christmas tree so without further ado, here it is! 

What you need:
A sheet of cardboard 
Baking paper
Strong tape

Vast quantities of milk or dark chocolate, or you can use both. 
3 blocks of white chocolate
Green food colouring (needs to be powdered not liquid or it will separate the chocolate)
Vast quantities of dried fruit, nuts, and lollies
Lollies to decorate the outside
Shredded coconut
Green liquid food colouring

Here's what to do:

Roll the cardboard into a cone shape. Roll a good sized sheet of baking paper into a cone and put it inside the cardboard. 

Melt small quantities of dark / milk chocolate, mis with fruit and nut and lollies then our into the cone shapes. Keep doing that til you fill the cone up and run out of chocolate. Allow it to set over night. 

Melt white chocolate and stain it green. Tip it gentle down the sides of the tree and stick lollies on to decorate it. 

Stain the shredded coconut green by putting it in a jar with the liquid colouring and shaking it. Put it on a plate and set the dried tree on top. 

Yes it's really that easy! 






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