With the holiday season comes some lovely Christmas treats, which is personally, one of my favourite parts about this time of the year. I have put together 5 amazing and easy Christmas themed treats for this blog post and they are all so simple to make. Starting off will be homemade toffee followed by some Christmas tree cupcakes with a few store bought cheats. Next is cute Christmas tree meringue cookies that look really lovely and presentable for a Christmas shindig, a great alternative to traditional cookies. Following that is some peppermint bark because you have to have some bark during the festivities and lastly, snowball cookies. Happy Holidays!
Homemade Toffee
Ingredients:-
- 1 cup whole raw almonds
- 1 cup butter, cut into cubes
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups milk chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
Method:-
- Place almonds on a plate and microwave them for 2-3 minutes on high to toast them. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the almonds in a single layer on the foil.
- Add sugar, butter, vanilla and salt to a large saucepan that has a thick bottom, or the toffee will burn, and melt over medium heat, stirring throughout.
- When the ingredients are completely melted, continuously stir and gradually increase heat to medium-high. Keep stirring for 9-15 minutes until the toffee is a golden brown colour. As soon as it reaches that colour, quickly pour over almonds in the prepared pan.
- Allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes then sprinkle with chocolate chips. Allow to sit for another couple of minutes then spread over the toffee.
- Sprinkle with chopped pecans and allow to cool completely in the fridge.
- After toffee and chocolate are completely cooled, use a butter knife to break the toffee apart. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Christmas Tree Cupcakes
Ingredients:-
- 6 chocolate or vanilla cupcakes, store bought
- 3 cups vanilla frosting, store bought
- 2 tablespoons green food colouring
- 6 ice cream sugar cones
- edible silver ball sprinkles
- powdered sugar for dusting
Method:-
- Slice the top of the cupcakes to create a flat surface and slather on a small portion of the frosting on the cupcakes to create a base atop which to put on the sugar cone tree.
- Stir the food colouring into the remaining frosting until desired green colour is achieved.
- Apple a thin layer of frosting on the exteriors of the sugar cone.
- Transfer the remaining frosting to a pastry bag filled with the star shaped pastry tip.
- Place the sugar cones atop the cupcakes then pipe leaves onto the trees. Garnish with the edible silver ball sprinkles and dust with powdered sugar.
Christmas Tree Meringue Cookies
Ingredients:-
- 4 egg whites at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 pinch cream of tartar
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
- green gel food colouring
- multi coloured sprinkles
- star sprinkles
- frosting of your choice.
Method:-
- Heat oven to 200 degrees. Place the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a bowl of a stand mixer. Place bowl over boiling water on the stove. Whisk vigorously until sugar dissolves and there are no more sugar granules visible. Remove from the heat and whisk in almond extract.
- Using the whisk attachment on stand mixer, mix on medium high until egg whites become bright white.
- Place mixture into piping bag with large star tip. Pipe cookies onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make cookies about 1 inch in width, 2 inches high and place 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Sprinkle with multi coloured sprinkles.
- Cook for 2 hours and turn off oven, open the door slightly and let them sit in oven an additional 2 hours.
- Place the star sprinkles on top with a tiny dab of frosting.
Peppermint Bark
Ingredients:-
- 12 oz. high quality white chocolate, pieces
- 6 oz. high quality semi sweet chocolate, pieces
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 3 candy canes, crushed
Method:-
- Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch baking pan with parchment paper or aluminium foil, smoothing out any wrinkles and set aside.
- Place the white chocolate and 1/2 teaspoon of oil in a bowl of a double boiler. Vigorously stir with a rubber spatula until melted and smooth. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract.
- Repeat step 2 with the ski sweet chocolate.
- Pour all of the semi sweet chocolate over the hardened white chocolate layer. Spread into a smooth layer. Place the baking tray back into the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Once hardened, remove from the refrigerator.
- Place the remaining white chocolate and 1/2 teaspoon oil and melt. Pour over the hardened bark layers and spread into a smooth layer. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
- Refrigerate the bark until completely hardened. Remove from the pan and peel off the foil or parchment paper. Break into pieces.
Snowball Cookies
Ingredients:-
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, for coating
Method:-
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix butter on medium speed until creamy. Blend in 2/3 cup powdered sugar and salt. Mix in vanilla. Sprinkle cornstarch over mixture then with the mixer set on low speed slowly add in flour and mix just until combined. Stir in pecans.
- Scoop the dough out 1 tablespoon at a time and roll into a ball, then place balls on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake for 16-18 minutes until bottom edges are lightly golden.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool then while the cookies are still warm, pour 2 cups powdered sugar into a bowl and roll cookies in powdered sugar.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool and roll in powdered sugar once more and generously coat them. Store cookies in an airtight container.
These are also great wrapped up beautifully to be given as gifts if in any case you are just a tad short on spending-money. I hope you have enjoyed this blog post and it has given you some ideas or inspiration this festive season. Don't forget to check out my social media sites.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Xx
Use the hashtag #jessthedream on Instagram to share your favourite festive treat
Twitter: @jessieashleyyy
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Email: jessicashleyyy@gmail.com
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