White Chocolate Star Tree Food

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.)

STRING-LIGHT CHRISTMAS-TREE COOKIES

Steps:

• In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, beat butter with sugar until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture, beating just until combined. Divide dough in half, transfer each to plastic wrap, form into disks, wrap tightly, and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days (or freeze up to 1 month).
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let 1 disk of dough stand at room temperature until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out to a scant 1/4 inch thick. Stamp out tree shapes with an approximately 4-inch-tall cookie cutter, transferring cutouts to parchment-lined baking sheets as you work. Use a star-shaped aspic cutter to stamp out tree toppers from dough scraps. Repeat with remaining disk of dough. Freeze cutouts until firm, about 15 minutes.
• Bake, rotating rack positions halfway through, until cookies are set and edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks; let cool completely.
• Transfer melted chocolate to a pastry bag fitted with a small, plain tip, such as Ateco #2 (or use a small freezer bag, and snip the tiniest possible hole in one corner). Starting at top of each tree, drizzle chocolate in a random back-and-forth pattern, then adhere candies intermittently to mimic string lights. Pipe a small dot of chocolate at very top of tree, and adhere a cookie star. Let stand at room temperature until chocolate sets, about 4 hours; or refrigerate just until set, about 15 minutes. (Do not keep cookies in refrigerator.) Store in an airtight container at room temperature, between sheets of parchment, up to 1 week.

WHITE FOREST CHRISTMAS TREE TRAYBAKE

Steps:

• To make the frosted leaves and cherries, whisk the egg white with a fork until frothy. Tip the sugar onto a plate. Brush the egg white onto the bay leaves or dip them, then sprinkle the sugar over the leaves and half the cherries to coat. Leave to dry on a sheet of parchment for 6 hrs or until the frosting has completely dried.
• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. For the sponge, butter and line a 30 x 20cm traybake tin with parchment. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric whisk until creamy. Whisk in the eggs, one by one, then sieve and fold in the flour, spices and baking powder. Fold in the yogurt, vanilla and chocolate chips. Tip into the tin, smooth over and bake for 30-35 mins until the sponge is golden and springs back when pressed. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack, remove the parchment and leave to cool completely. Or, to make a round cake, see our tip below.
• Reduce the oven to 120C/100C fan/gas ½ and leave the door open briefly to make sure the temperature drops low enough. To make the meringues, whisk the egg white in a large bowl with an electric whisk, or in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, until stiff peaks form. Continually whisking, add the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until it's completely combined. Once it's all added, beat for another 3-4 mins until you get a stiff, shiny meringue. Transfer the mixture to two small piping bags fitted with star and round nozzles. Use a cocktail stick, knife or spoon dipped in the food colouring to paint the inside of the bags in stripes up the length, painting each bag with a different colour and leaving the area nearest the nozzle uncoloured, then fill with meringue. Cover a baking sheet with parchment, using a little of the meringue on the underside to stick it to the tray. Pipe blobs onto it, well spaced apart, to make meringue kisses - they will come out plain first. Bake for 30 mins, then turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside to cool to room temperature. Decorate them with gold leaf or glitter, if you like.
• Press the jam firmly through a sieve to remove any large chunks and stir what's left in the sieve back into the jar. Stir in a few pinches of glitter, if you like, then transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle.
• Beat the buttercream ingredients together using an electric whisk until you get a pale, fluffy icing. Transfer to a large piping bag with a wide, round nozzle.
• To cut the sponge into a tree shape, first split the cooled cake into two layers using a cake cutter or serrated knife. Using a ruler or a sheet of baking parchment the same width as the cake, mark a halfway point at the top end of the cake. At the bottom end of the cake, mark it into thirds. Using these as a guide, cut squares from the bottom end of the cake, leaving a centre section for the tree stump, then cut from your middle mark at the top down to the bottom edges to create a Christmas tree shape. Use the off-cuts to make cake pops, or in trifle. Carefully lift off the top sponge using a baking sheet, and pipe blobs of buttercream all over, starting from the outside edge. Chill for 20 mins to firm up. Pipe some of the jam between the buttercream blobs, except the outer edge.
• Position the remaining cake on top, and pipe more icing blobs all over. Add the frosted leaves, frosted and plain cherries, ginger biscuits (see our recipe) and meringues, sprinkle a little glitter over the un-frosted cherries, and pipe on the remaining jam in blobs. Add the biscuits, putting a star-shaped one at the top, and add gold leaf, if you like. Will keep, well covered in the fridge, for two-three days.

WHITE STAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Melt the white star candy and peanut butter together.
• Add all other ingredients and mix together.
• Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper.
• Refrigerate until hardened.