Christmas Chocolates

5 from 1 vote

Christmas Chocolates are the perfect festive treat! Easy to make using everyday ingredients they will be the feature on the dessert table!

Prep Time15

Set time1

Total Time1 15

Course: Dessert, Snack, Treat

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: Christmas Chocolates

Servings:

Calories: 91kcal

Author: Adrianne

Equipment

1 Kitchen scissors to chop the dried cranberries and spearmint leaves, or use a knife and chopping board
2 Teaspoons to spoon the filling into the moulds
2 Silicon chocolate molds measuring 4cm or 1.5 inches, 15 domes per mold
1 Mixing bowl to combine the fillings
1 Soup Spoon to stir together the fillings
1 Heatproof jug to melt the chocolate
1 Oven Mit the handle of the heatproof jug gets hot
1 Chopstick handy to stir the melted chocolate

Ingredients

300 grams/ 11 oz dark chocolate Note 1
½ cup dried cranberries Note 2
½ cup spearmint leaves roughly chopped, Note 3
½ cup peanuts roasted, unsalted, can chop if desired

Instructions

Technique 1

Combine: add peanuts, chopped cranberries and chopped spearmint leaves to a medium sized mixing bowl. Use a soup spoon to stir and combine.
Fillings: use a teaspoon to spoon the combined chocolate fillings into the chocolate mould.
Chocolate: add the chocolate to a heatproof microwave safe jug. Microwave for 1 minute, then remove and stir (handle will be hot). Microwave for an additional minute, remove and stir, then microwave for 1 more minute (total time: 3 minutes).
Melted chocolate: working one dome at a time, pour the melted chocolate into the mould till it reaches the surface. Don't worry if a little excess flows out onto the flat part of the mould. You can cut this off once the chocolates are set.
Set: carefully pick up the filled chocolate mould with 1 hand either side and place into the fridge (either open it 1st or get someone to open it for you) for a minimum of 1 hour. Note 4
Serve and enjoy: once the chocolates are set, remove from the fridge, place mould on chopping board and push from the back to pop the chocolates out. Repeat for remaining chocolates.

Technique 2

Fillings: add the combined rocky road fillings to the melted chocolate and stir to mix in together.
Moulds: use 2 teaspoons to spoon the combined wet Christmas chocolate mixture into the chocolate mould. Repeat to fill each dome.
Set: carefully pick up the filled chocolate mould with 1 hand either side and place into the fridge (either open it 1st or get someone to open it for you) for a minimum of 1 hour.
Serve and enjoy: once the chocolates are set, remove from the fridge, place mould on chopping board and push from the back to pop the chocolates out. Repeat for remaining chocolates.

Technique 2

Notes

Note 1 - Chocolate: You can use chocolate melts, chocolate bits or a block of cooking chocolate broken into pieces. Ensure you measure it using kitchen scales or purchase exact quantity ie 300 grams which is approximately 11 ounces.
Note 2 - Dried cranberries: you will be able to get these from almost all local grocery stores, be it Walmart, Safeway, Tesco, Aldi, Woolies or Coles. We need to use kitchen scissors (or a knife and chopping board) to roughly chop them up.
Note 3 - Spearmint leaves: This is a lolly/candy that is commonly sold in Australia. It is a green spearmint flavoured sugar coasted chewy candy. I use kitchen scissors and cut each leaf into 4 small pieces.
Note 4 - Mould info fridge: the silicon mould is flexible and curvy. If you place it onto a chopping board for support, you can then hold this in one hand and use your other hand to open the fridge. Otherwise you have 1 hand at each end of the mould and no hands to open the fridge. You can open it before putting the mould into the fridge or ask someone in the house to open it for you also.
Note - Melting the chocolate: some recipes that talk about melting chocolate, will say microwave the chocolate in 30 second increments. However, I have tried this and let me tell you nothing happens after 30 seconds!!! So I microwave for 1 minute, remove (use an oven mit as the handle is hot) and stir, microwave for 1 minute, remove and stir, then return to the microwave for 1 final minute and stir after that time. It works perfectly!

Nutrition