Chocolate Tree Recipes

3D CHOCOLATE TREE

Steps:

• Fill a bowl with ice water. Fill a piping bag with 1 1/4 cups melted milk chocolate and use it to draw a tree on the surface of the ice water. When the tree has hardened, turn it 90° in the water, then draw more branches and thicken the trunk on the side. Repeat several times to obtain a 3D tree. Leave to rest in a cool place. Place the pie crust in the pie dish and prick it with a fork. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 °F. After baked and cooled, remove the crust from the pie dish. Use melted chocolate to glue the tree to the center of the pie crust.
• Melt the red candies in a saucepan. Place the hazelnuts on toothpicks and dip them into the melted candies. Use melted dark chocolate to make stems. Replace the toothpicks with a small stem of dark chocolate to create apples.
• Melt the sugar in 2/3 cup of water in a saucepan to form a caramel. Attach 2 forks horizontally at the same height to the workstation. Place some parchment paper on the floor under the forks. Dip the ends of the skewers into the caramel and then drizzle over the forks to create long, silky strands. Once there are enough caramel strands, shape it into a ball.
• Boil 2/3 cups of heavy whipping cream, then pour it over the rest of the milk chocolate to melt it. Add the remaining heavy cream to the mixture, then place in the fridge for 1 hour. Mix the butter, flour, cane sugar, cocoa powder, hazelnut powder, and sea salt until you obtain a shortbread texture. Place the shortbread on a lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 350 °F.
• Beat the cold chocolate cream until a whipped cream forms. Place this mixture in a piping bag. Fill the pie around the tree with the chocolate cream. Cover with the crumbled shortbread and let chill. Once chilled, place the hazelnuts on the crumbled shortbread, then place the ball of caramel strands on the tree to form the leaves. Cut into pieces and enjoy.

CHOCOLATE TREE BARK

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.

CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS TREE COOKIES

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.

CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS TREES

Steps:

• Place chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Stir frequently, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching, until chocolate is melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon melted chocolate into a small resealable plastic bag and cut off a small corner.
• Pipe Christmas tree shape onto the parchment paper and allow to harden in a cool place overnight.
• Once the chocolate has hardened, carefully remove chocolate trees from paper and use to decorate Christmas cakes or desserts.

CHOCOLATE TREE

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.

CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS TREE

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.

WHITE-CHOCOLATE STAR TREE

Steps:

• Line a 12 1/2-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet with acetate.
• Place 2 3/4 pounds chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan with 2 inches of water to a simmer, and then reduce heat to low. Set bowl with chocolate over saucepan, and let melt, stirring gently with a rubber spatula, until chocolate registers 118 degrees on a candy thermometer. (Watch the chocolate carefully, as heating and cooling times may vary.) Remove bowl from saucepan. Add remaining chocolate, and stir until chocolate cools to 82 degrees. (Remove any unmelted pieces with spatula.) Return bowl to saucepan, and let stand, stirring occasionally until chocolate registers 86 degrees to 87 degrees.
• Pour chocolate into prepared sheet, spreading evenly. Tap bottom on work surface to even out chocolate. Refrigerate until set, about 45 minutes (chocolate will be easier to cut if slightly soft).
• Place chocolate on a work surface. Heat 1/2 inch of water until steaming. Working with 1 cutter at a time, starting with the largest and working down to the smallest, place cutter in water to heat. Remove with tongs, and dry completely. Press cutter into chocolate, pressing all the way through. (You can use the bottom of a small bowl to help press down if it's too difficult.) Carefully remove chocolate from cutter. Repeat with same-size cutter. Then repeat with remaining star cutters, cutting out 2 of each, but only 1 of each of the smallest 3 stars. Cut two 1-inch rounds. Reserve chocolate scraps.
• To assemble the trees: Melt 3 ounces of scrap chocolate. Using melted chocolate as glue and a small paintbrush, glue 2 rounds together for truck. Glue 1 of the largest stars on trunk, followed by remaining largest, rotating each slightly to stagger points. Repeat, gluing stars, largest to smallest, and rotating each slightly to stagger points and create a tree shape. Turn the last (and smallest) star on its side to create the tree topper. (For a medium tree, leave out the 2 largest stars; for a small tree, leave out the 4 largest.)

CHOCOLATE TREE CAKE

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.