Easy Christmas Treats

Christmas is always the perfect excuse to eat all the food, am I right?! Even better when you can make it  yourself! I've made three easy Christmas treats that you can make whether you're throwing a festive party, looking for something to bake on Christmas day or just something to make for yourself (no shame) - these are perfect!

Rudolf Shortbread

You will need:

• Shortbread (I used a simple recipe from bbcgoodfood) 
• Red Smarties (you might need a few boxes to ensure you can find enough red ones)
• Chocolate (for melting) - amount depends on how many you want to make.
• Cocktail stick
• White dots/balls for eyes

Method:

• Once you have made the shortbread and left it to cool, you can begin with the decorating. Melt the chocolate in the microwave (15 secs at a time) until it's smooth. Using a teaspoon, dab a tiny amount of melted chocolate near the bottom of the shortbread and put a red Smartie on top to create Rudolf's nose. 
• Using the teaspoon again, put two dots of chocolate above the nose for the eyes. You can either leave the eyes like this or you can make them white. I used white shimmer pearls from Tesco to create the eyes on my reindeer.
• Now for the trickiest bit...Using your cocktail stick you want to create antlers with the melted chocolate. Just get a small amount of chocolate on the tip of cocktail stick and lightly draw them on (check the photo above). The trick with this is to have as little chocolate on the stick as possible.

Peppermint Hot Chocolate Stirrers

You will need:

• Candy canes (I used 6 to make 4 stirrers)
• Marshmallows
• Chocolate (for melting) - amount depends on how many you want to make.

Method:

• Crush two candy canes in a food processor and pour them onto a plate.
• Melt the chocolate then slide two marshmallows onto the end of a candy cane. Cover the bottom marshmallow in the melted chocolate.
• Roll the chocolate covered marshmallow in the crushed candy cane.
• Now all you have to do is stir this into your hot chocolate for a lovely peppermint taste!

Rudolf Marshmallows

You will need:

• Giant marshmallows (either the jet-puffed kind or something similar)
• Chocolate (for melting) - amount depends on ho many you want to make.
• Pretzels
• Red Smarties
• White dots/balls
• Cake pop sticks (or something similar)

Method: 

• Melt chocolate. Slide the cake pop stick through the marshmallow then cover it in the melted chocolate. Refrigerate the marshmallows until the chocolate has hardened.
• Using a teaspoon, dab a small amount of chocolate near the bottom of the marshmallow then place a red Smartie on it to create Rudolf's nose. Do the same step just above the nose for the eyes, use similar balls as mentioned before or use melted white chocolate to dot eyes on the reindeer. 
• Break pretzels in half to create the antlers then gently push them slightly into the top of the marshmallow. You may want to use some melted chocolate to help the pretzels stick.

*I haven't listed any measurements/weights as everything can be adjusted depending on the amount you are making.