Home-Made Christmas Treats
Share the love this Christmas with your very own homemade Christmas treats.
We all love to indulge over the festive season and what better way to indulge than with delicious home-made goodies. All the recipes in this blog are all really easy to make and taste delicious, you can wrap them all up with pretty decorations to make them the perfect Christmas hamper to give to your loved ones this Christmas…or to simple enjoy some for yourself.
Included in this Christmas special are delicious mince pies, indulgent truffles and the best hot chocolate stirrer ever!
Everything you need for Christmas is right here!
Indulgent Chocolate Orange Truffles
These truffles are made using our orange and cacao Love Vegan bars so most of the hard work is already done! Making them super easy, healthy and so tasty!
To buy your bars simply click here
If you’d like to make your own truffle base then see the alternative in the ingredients list (unfortunately I don’t have exact measurements as I just use the orange Love Vegan bars)
Ingredients
4 Orange and cacao Love Vegan bars*
100g Dark chocolate
Few handfuls of walnuts blended to coat the truffles
Method
Place the chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water and gently melt, you could also use the microwave but it does burn quite easily.
Cut each of the Love Vegan bars in half and roll each half into a ball.
Once the chocolate has melted, use two forks to hold a ball at a time and dip the ball into the chocolate, shake to remove any excess chocolate and place on a plate to set slightly
Repeat until all the balls are coated
Sprinkle the balls with the chopped nuts, using a spoon to coat the edges, once combined you can gently roll them so the nuts stick into the chocolate properly. (You may need to wait a little while until the chocolate is just starting to set, if it sets completely then the nuts will not be able to stick, so time it just right!)
*if you don’t have any love vegan bars then you may blend a handful of dates with a couple of handfuls of cashews and the juice and zest of a small orange, simply blend the ingredients together in a blender or food processor and once combined roll into balls. Add more dates if it’s too crumbly and more nuts if the mixture is too sloppy
Mince Pies
It’s not Christmas without a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine and these mince pies will not disappoint, they are really easy as I have used ready made pastry and mincemeat..but they look so much better home-made. A big plus is they are also vegan, most shop bought mince pies are not vegan so this is a win-win!
The amount of mince pies you will make will depend on the size of your tart tins (I use cupcake tins) so just keep going until you run out of pastry. This recipe made around 10 mince pies for me using only half of the pastry, so alter accordingly.
Ingredients
1 packet of ready to roll shortcrust pastry, you will only be using half the pack. (I used jus roll)
1 jar of mincemeat (I used an Asda extra special mincemeat and it was delicious…it contains port so has a lovely boozy after taste)
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180C fan
Remove the pastry from the fridge for 15 minutes before to plan on starting to bake (you only need half of the pan)
Cut the pastry in half and roll it until the thickness is about the size of a pound coin
Cut out rounds using a cookie cutter making sure they’ll fit into your tart tin with the edges about a inch thick up the sides (it will shrink down a little during baking)
Fill each pastry base with a large teaspoon of mincemeat
Cut out star shapes and place them on top of each tart
Sprinkle with some brown sugar if you like and then bake for around 15 minutes or until golden on top
After removing the tarts from the oven check the bases are fully cooked- they should be golden too, if not bake for a few more minutes.
Sprinkle with icing sugar
Ameretto Chocolate Stirrers
The best and most fun way to enjoy a hot chocolate. If you’re making these for children then leave out the amaretto and add another spoon of sugar syrup.
You will need a square mould or improvise with anything else, I used a chocolate bar mould and cut each bar in half once set. You will also need a few eco-friendly/bamboo spoons, anything but plastic as they are so bad for the environment, especially at this time of the year when we waste so much more plastic than we usually do. #doyourbit
Ingredients
The creamy ganache middle (part one)
100g Dark chocolate (70% if possible)
The cream from a tin of full fat coconut milk (just the solid creamy part and not the water underneath)
1 tbsp Agave or maple syrup
1 shot of amaretto
Chocolate shell (part two)
100g dark chocolate, maybe more if you want a thicker coating
Method
Add part one ingredients to a small pan and gently melt over a low heat
Place the liquid into your chosen mould
Place the moulds in the fridge to set - around an hour - and just as they are beginning to harden pop the spoon in so it stands upright
Place them back in the fridge whilst you melt the chocolate for the shell
Melt the chocolate in a small bowl
Dip each mould into the chocolate so its all covered and then place back into the mould, it may not fit back in if you don’t have a silicon mould, in this case pop it standing upright onto a plate.
Back into the fridge to completely set - I left it over night
When fully set you may wish to neaten up the edges by cutting them with a pair of scissors
Wrap in paper and a nice bow and keep in the fridge until you are ready to use them
Once you are ready to use the chocolate stirrer you will need to heat a cup of plant milk until quite hot as the stirrer will cool the milk down, and stir it until dissolved.
Top with vegan cream and sprinkles - I use a Love Vegan bar chopped in half as an tasty flake alternative :)
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, love Jennifer x