Chocolate Christmas Gifts You Make in Your Own Kitchen – Guest Post
Saturday, September 1st, 2012 by Krissy Leave a Comment »
Chocolate Christmas Gifts You Make in Your Own Kitchen
Christmas is not only a great time for giving, but it’s also the perfect time to bake and go chocolate crazy. The neatest gifts you can give friends and family – especially chocoholics – is Christmas hampers full of chocolate goodies. Mixing up homemade chocolate goodies and store-bought chocolates makes a perfect goody hamper. To get a bigger variety, purchase chocolates online.
Get everything you need to create the chocolate hamper before you get started. Decide what you want to line the hamper with, what type of homemade chocolate goodies you want to add, and what chocolates you want to order online. One of the best homemade goodies you can add to the Christmas hamper is a Yule Log. Yule Logs are made with sponge cake, as it rolls easily and doesn’t break. You can choose from chocolate or yellow sponge cake.
Creating the Yule Log: Make a sponge cake from scratch or a box sponge cake. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes, then sprinkle the top with confectioner’s sugar. Lay a clean dish towel over the top of the cake, then a cookie rack or a sheet pan. Invert the cake. Roll the cake up in the dish towel and let it cool completely.
Once the cake has cooled completely, carefully unroll it on a flat surface. Leave the dish towel under the cake. Add about one-half inch of your favorite filling — chocolate or white cream filling. Using the dish towel to lift the end of the cake, roll the cake tightly.
Transfer the cake from the dish towel to a serving platter. Frost the cake with chocolate frosting. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar. Add confectioner’s sugar to white filling or white frosting to stiffen it, if needed. If you don’t have white because you are making a triple chocolate Yule Log, you can make some by whipping one part heavy cream until it is stiff, then add one and one-half part confectioner’s sugar. Tint it with the proper colors to make holly and berries on the Yule Log.
If you don’t want to give away a good platter, you can find cake boxes at restaurant supply stores. Plastic platters with Christmas decorations are also available at some drug stores and dollar stores.
Putting the Christmas Hamper Together: Put the Yule Log, chocolates you purchased and other items in the hamper. Try decorating it with a green and red bow or wrap the entire chocolate hamper in colored plastic wrap to give it that extra kick.
Other Christmas Gift Ideas: If you don’t want to make a Yule Log, you can make chocolate truffles, chocolate cookies or brownies to add to the Christmas hamper. If the chocolate hamper is for a family and there is a person who doesn’t like or can’t eat chocolate, be sure to add other types of cookies and confections that do not include chocolate. Also if you’re short on time, you can always get the hamper somewhere else! Ferrero now offer their incredible Christmas hampers, which are a quick and surefire way to please a crowd.
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