Chocolate Tree Recipes

Steps:

• Place chocolate in a microwave-proof bowl. Melt on Medium (50% power)for 3-4 minutes, stirring every minute. Add Rice Bubbles and coconut. Stir to combine.
• On a sheet of baking paper, spoon or pipe mixture into a cross shape. You will need 6 crosses in graduation sizes. Chill in refrigerator for 20 minutes, until firm. Reserve ramaining chocolate mixture.
• Place the largest cross on a flat board or serving plate. Spoon a little of the remaining chocolate into the centre. Sit the next cross on top, pressing down lightly to secure. (Place each cross in different directions). Continue with remaining crosses, finishing with the smallest. Chill in refrigerator for 20 mins to set.
• Dust with icing sugar. Top with a shortbread star if desired.

Steps:

• Using a very clean pastry brush, paint the branches with bittersweet chocolate until completely covered. (Of course, this does not make them edible!) You may need more than one coating. Place the coated branches on a sheet of parchment paper until the chocolate has fully set.
• For the base of this presentation, use a small plastic container as a mold, the size of which depends upon the size of the branches you've coated in chocolate. Center the branches inside the container and add bittersweet chocolate, filling it to the top. Allow to harden. When the chocolate has set, remove the plastic container. Use bittersweet chocolate to "glue" whatever you've chosen to hang from the tree. There is no set pattern, just let your eye guide you as you randomly decorate the branches. Use as many or as few as you like, depending on the size of your tree. It will look more interesting if color is added (i.e. fresh fruits, orange peels, white chocolate leaves, etc). Use the chocolate tree as a centerpiece for the dining room table during dinner. When it is time for dessert, your guests can simply pick the petit fours and candies from the tree.
• Assorted items to hang from the "tree", for example: cookies, petit fours, fresh fruits such as cherries or raspberries, orange peels, white chocolate leaves, etc.
• How to Temper Chocolate(From Dessert Circus, Extraordinary Desserts You Can Make At Home by Jacques Torres):
• Chocolate is tempered so that after it has been melted, it retains its gloss and hardens again without becoming chalky and white (that happens when the molecules of fat separate and form on top of the chocolate). There are a variety of ways to temper.
• One of the easiest ways to temper chocolate is to chop it into small pieces and then place it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time on high power until most of the chocolate is melted. Be very careful not to overheat it. (The temperature of dark chocolate should be between 88 and 90 degrees F, slightly warmer than your bottom lip. It will retain its shape even when mostly melted. White and milk chocolates melt at a temperature approximately 2 degrees F less because of the amount of lactose they contain.) Any remaining lumps will melt in the chocolate's residual heat. Use an immersion blender or whisk to break up the lumps. Usually, chocolate begins to set, or crystallize, along the side of the bowl. As it sets, mix those crystals into the melted chocolate to temper it. A glass bowl retains heat well and keeps the chocolate tempered longer.
• Another way to temper chocolate is called seeding. In this method, add small pieces of unmelted chocolate to melted chocolate. The amount of unmelted chocolate to be added depends on the temperature of the melted chocolate, but is usually 1/4 of the total amount. It is easiest to use an immersion blender for this, or a whisk.
• The classic way to temper chocolate is called tabliering. Two thirds of the melted chocolate is poured onto a marble or another cold work surface. The chocolate is spread out and worked with a spatula until its temperature is approximately 81 degrees F. At this stage, it is thick and begins to set. This tempered chocolate is then added to the remaining non-tempered chocolate and mixed thoroughly until the mass has a completely uniform temperature. If the temperature is still too high, part of the chocolate is worked further on the cold surface until the correct temperature is reached. This is a lot of work, requires a lot of room, and makes a big mess.
• A simple method of checking tempering, is to apply a small quantity of chocolate to a piece of paper or to the point of a knife. If the chocolate has been correctly tempered, it will harden evenly and show a good gloss within a few minutes.

Steps:

• Carefully unwrap the peanut butter cups, making sure no chocolate comes off on the wrapper (refrigerating them first will help prevent this). Unwrap the chocolate kisses.
• Cut out twelve 2-inch parchment squares. Turn a water glass upside down and place one of the parchment squares on the flat bottom. Place a peanut butter cup on the parchment, wide-side down. Pipe a dot of green icing on top of the peanut butter cup and place a chocolate kiss on top. Pipe green icing branches onto the chocolate "tree." Starting at the bottom of the peanut butter cup, pipe a thin, straight line up one of its grooves and up to the tip of the chocolate kiss. Repeat, piping a line up every groove of the peanut butter cup and over the chocolate kiss, connecting the lines at the tip. Press a star sprinkle onto the tip of the assembled tree and decorate with silver pearl sprinkles, pressing them gently to adhere. Carefully slide the parchment with the tree off the glass and let the icing set. Repeat to create 11 additional trees.
• Using a butter knife or a small offset spatula, spread a layer of vanilla frosting over each sugar cookie in a circle, leaving the edges plain. Carefully place a candy Christmas tree in the center of each cookie.

Steps:

• Beat the butter with sifted icing sugar and a little green food colouring. Spread the mixture on an 18-20cm square sponge or chocolate cake. Use matchstick chocolates or black liquorice laces to mark the branches of a Christmas tree, then dot on assorted chocolates to look like decorations.

Steps:

• Draw multiple Christmas tree outlines (1 1/2 to 2 inches high) on a piece of paper. You can also trace around a cookie cutter.
• Put the paper with the drawings on a cookie sheet. Lay a piece of wax paper on top. You don't have to use a cookie sheet, but it allows you to move the trees before they are set.
• Heat the chocolate and shortening in a saucepan over lot heat (or microwave). Stirring frequently until melted. Pour into decorating bag with a plain tip or into a ziploc bag with a corner snipped.
• Pip chocolate tree outline and fill in center with random branches. IMMEDIATELY place a toothpick at the bottom of the tree, about 1/3 - 1/4 inch into the base of the tree.
• Sprinkle with edible glitter or colored sprinkles if desired.
• Refrigerate until chocolate hardens.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
• Arrange crackers onto the prepared baking sheet.
• Stir butter and sugar together in a bowl until the sugar dissolves; drizzle over the crackers.
• Bake crackers in preheated oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
• Spread chocolate chips over the crackers to cover completely immediately after removing the baking sheet from the oven, allowing the residual heat to melt the chocolate. Sprinkle nuts over the chocolate layer before it re-solidifies.
• Cool the bark to room temperature. Once the chocolate is again firm, break the sheet into pieces to resemble tree bark.