Chocolate Reindeer Recipes

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Place butter, brown sugar and water in a large saucepan; cook and stir over low heat until butter is melted. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate chips until smooth. Stir in eggs and extract. Stir in flour mixture. Let stand until firm enough to shape, about 15 minutes., To freeze dough, shape level tablespoonfuls of dough into balls; flatten each to 1/4-in. thickness. Place in a covered container, separating layers with waxed paper; freeze until firm. (May be frozen up to 3 months.), To bake, preheat oven to 350°. Place frozen dough portions 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake until set, 12-14 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely., Spread cookies with frosting, reserving a small amount for mouths. Decorate faces with candy eyes; add peanut butter cups for snouts, pretzels for antlers and M&M's for noses. Pipe mouths with reserved frosting.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well., Divide dough into 8 portions; cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours., Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 6-in. circle; cut into 6 wedges. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Press in pretzels for antlers, baking bits for eyes and a gumdrop for the nose., Bake 7-9 minutes or until set. Cool 1 minute before removing from pans to wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Cover a large area of counter space with waxed paper and tape it down.
• Mix pretzels, corn cereal squares, peanuts, and candy-coated milk chocolate pieces together in a large bowl.
• Melt white chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water, stirring frequently and scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching. Pour melted white chocolate over pretzel mixture; stir to evenly coat. Quickly transfer mixture to the prepared waxed paper and spread in a thin layer; cool completely. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Line a baking tin with baking parchment. Heat both chocolates in separate bowls in the microwave in 30-sec blasts, or over pans of simmering water. Pour the dark chocolate into the baking tin, then pour the milk chocolate on top in a trail. Spread the chocolate out to make a reasonably thick slab.
• Arrange the red smarties over the slab at intervals - these are the reindeer noses. Cut a marshmallow in half and press above the smarties to make eyes. Snap a pretzel in half for each set of antlers, snapping off any excess pretzel, then push into the chocolate near the noses.
• To make the snowmen, arrange the rest of the marshmallows in lines of three. Use pieces of pretzel for the arms and a piece of shoe lace for the scarf. Sprinkle over the stars and sprinkles, then leave the chocolate to set completely.
• Once the chocolate is hard, use an icing pen or small brush dipped in black food colouring to add pupils to the reindeer eyes, and faces and buttons for the snowmen. Use a knife to cut the bark into pieces around the reindeer and snowmen. To give them as gifts, put the chocolate shards in cellophane bags and tie with a pretty ribbon.

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Coat two 8-inch-round cake pans with cooking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Whisk the cocoa powder and 1 1/2 cups boiling water in a medium bowl until smooth; set aside. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl until combined. Add the eggs, vegetable oil, sour cream and vanilla and beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low; beat in the cocoa mixture in a steady stream until just combined, then finish mixing with a rubber spatula.
• Divide the batter between the prepared pans and tap the pans against the counter to help the batter settle. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer to racks and let cool 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the pans and turn the cakes out onto the racks to cool completely. Remove the parchment. Trim the tops of the cakes with a long serrated knife to make them level.
• For the ganache: Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring the heavy cream and corn syrup to a simmer in a small saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let stand 5 minutes, then stir until completely smooth. Let the ganache sit until it has cooled and thickened to a spreadable consistency, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Place 1 cake layer on a cardboard cake circle on a wire rack set over a baking sheet to catch any drips. Spread about 1/2 cup of the ganache on top and place the second cake layer cut-side down over the ganache. Dollop half of the remaining ganache on top and spread with a large offset spatula so the ganache covers the top of the cake and slowly runs down the sides. Repeat with the remaining ganache, using the offset spatula to make a smooth, even layer over the surface and around the sides of the cake. Refrigerate until set, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• To decorate: Melt the white chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl in the microwave in 15 second intervals on 50 percent power until melted, stirring after each interval. Let sit 5 minutes, then transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a medium plain tip. (Alternatively, transfer to a resealable plastic bag and snip off a corner.) Pipe a straight line through the center of the cake from top to bottom, then another line through the center from left to right, dividing the cake into quarters. Pipe 2 more lines to divide the cake into eighths. Pipe a circle of white chocolate around the edge of the cake. Pipe a small circle where the points intersect in the center of the cake. Place a candy-coated chocolate near the tip of each point for reindeer noses (one of them will be red). Add 2 reindeer eyes above each nose. Stick 2 pretzel twist pieces above each pair of eyes.

Steps:

• In large bowl, beat cookie mix, flour, butter and egg with electric mixer on low speed just until blended. Shape into ball. Flatten dough to 1/2-inch thickness; wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 3 hours or until very firm.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Unwrap dough; on well-floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with floured 3 1/2-inch gingerbread boy cookie cutter. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 2 inches apart. Refrigerate on cookie sheets 10 minutes. Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Turn each cookie upside down to look like reindeer face. Outline cookie with chocolate icing; fill in and spread icing with toothpick. Attach candy eyes and mint for nose. Decorate with white icing to look like antlers. Let stand until set.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray or line with cooking parchment paper. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In small microwavable cup, microwave chocolate chips uncovered on High 30 to 45 seconds, stirring after 30 seconds, until melted and smooth; set aside.
• In large bowl, beat butter and sugars with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Add melted chocolate; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat until soft dough forms. Refrigerate dough 20 minutes.
• Shape dough into 64 (1-inch) and 32 (3/4-inch) balls. For each cookie, arrange 1 (3/4-inch) and 2 (1-inch) balls, edges touching, on ungreased cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely before decorating.
• Meanwhile, to make ears, cut caramels in half horizontally. Cut each half into quarters, making 64 thin squares. Using fingers, slightly press together opposite corners squares, forming leaf shapes (see photo); set aside.
• To make antlers, cut each licorice twist into 4 (1 3/4-inch) pieces. Cut 2 (1-inch) slits in each piece, creating 3 sections; cut off half of each outer section (see photo).
• To Make Reindeer: Pipe 4 small dollops chocolate icing onto smaller portion of cooled cookie; press on ears and antlers. For eyes, pipe white icing onto cookie in 2 small oval-shaped dollops; press 1 milk chocolate candy on each. For nose, pipe small dollop of chocolate icing onto cookie; press on 1 chocolate-covered caramel. Using red icing, pipe mouth onto cookie.

Steps:

• Fold the parchment in half diagonally, then in half again and in half once more so it forms a cone shape. Staple the inside of the cone together at the two top corners to attach the layers so you have a sealed cone that's open at the top.
• Stand the parchment cone upright in a long, tall glass so the opening is at the top. Fill the cone with the hot chocolate powder, the chocolate chips, fudge pieces and marshmallows. Twist the top closed and secure with the brown pipe cleaner, then twist the pipe cleaner into two antlers. Fix two eyes and a red nose onto the front of the cone and tie a candy cane stirrer on top with ribbon.
• To serve, snip 3cm off the base of the cone and tip the contents into a large heatproof jug. Top up with 800ml boiling water and stir with the candy cane until the hot chocolate has dissolved and the chocolate chips and fudge pieces have melted. Divide between four mugs.