3 delicious Christmas desserts you can make at home

Christmas presents are great of course, but for the adults, we all know the real joy of Christmas lies in the food. We’ve whipped up these three delicious desserts with a festive twist you can make for the kids at home. 

It’s that time of year again when we can eat whatever we want without feeling guilty!

Christmas presents are great of course, but for the adults, we all know the real joy of Christmas lies in the food. After stuffing ourselves with lamb, turkey, ham, fresh beans, new potatoes, roast vegetables and a myriad of salads, there’s always room for dessert.

We’ve whipped up these three delicious desserts with a festive twist you can make at home. They’re simple and quick to make, but if you want to hide them on the top shelf and only bring them out when it’s past the kid’s bedtime, we won’t judge.

Chocolate Hazelnut Christmas Tree

Anyone who says they don’t like Nutella is a liar, and this recipe will prove it. Creating this incredible looking chocolate Christmas tree is surprisingly easy, but there’s no need for people to know that. If anyone asks, it took years of hard work to perfect this festive treat.

Hazelnut Christmas Tree

Ingredients

  • 1/2 teaspoon Olivado liquid Coconut oil
  • 500g puff pastry
  • 4 tablespoons chocolate-hazelnut spread (we used Nutella)
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten

 

Method

Start by preheating your oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and grease with our delicious liquid Coconut oil.

Cut puff pastry in half; roll into two 30x40cm sheets on a lightly floured surface. Place 1 puff pastry sheet on the prepared baking sheet. Spread room-temperature chocolate-hazelnut spread over the triangle in a thin layer with the back of a spoon. Lick the spoon.

Roll out the second sheet of puff pastry and place on top of the first one. Score both sheets into a triangle; cut out carefully to avoid tearing aluminium foil. Pull away excess pastry.

Cut away 2 strips at the bottom of the triangle to form the base of a tree trunk. Score 2 lines down the middle of the triangle to form a tree trunk that is narrower at the top and gets wider towards the base. Using the trunk as a guide, cut branches into the sides of the triangle.

Twist the branches away from you, trying to get in 2 turns on the lower branches. Continue moving up the tree, twisting away from you as you go. If you find these instructions a little bit confusing, there is a link to the video tutorial here.

Cut a small star out of the excess pastry; place on top of the tree. Brush the star and tree with beaten egg.

Bake in the preheated oven until puffy and golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Slide onto a serving plate, using a piece of parchment paper if needed.

Banana Chocolate Peanut Butter Frozen Bites

These little treats are perfect if you’ve got a lot of kids running around this Christmas. Bite-sized, yet surprisingly filling, they do take some prep, but if you make them the day before they’re great on a hot summer’s day.

Chocolate peanut butter bites

Ingredients

  • 4 bananas
  • 10 teaspoons peanut butter
  • 2 tbsp Olivado Extra Virgin Coconut oil
  • 1 100g block Dark Chocolate
  • 1 tbsp Coconut Sugar
  • 1 tbsp cocoa
  • Sea salt to taste
  • 50g Peanuts – chopped and toasted

 

Method

Start by lining a large, freezable container with baking paper.

Next, chop each banana into 1.5cm thick rounds. Lay half of them face down in your tray and spoon half a teaspoon of peanut butter on top of them. Then top with the other half, creating little “banana sandwiches” with a peanut butter filling. Freeze for at least 2 hours – overnight if possible.

In the microwave on a low wattage or over a bain-marie, melt the chocolate and Olivado Extra Virgin Coconut oil together. Whisk in the sugar and cocoa until you have a smooth chocolate mixture. Add any extra sugar and salt to taste. Let cool slightly.

Have another lined plastic container ready. Grab your frozen banana bites from the freezer and very quickly dip each bite in your chocolate mixture one by one topping them with the chopped nuts as you go before the chocolate dries. Once you have dipped and sprinkled them all, place them back in the freezer for at least 1 hour. These can be kept in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Marshmallow reindeer

These adorable little marshmallow reindeer treats go down a storm with children and adults alike. Again, they take a wee bit of preparation, but the end result is absolutely worth it!

Christmas Chocolate Reindeer bites

Ingredients

  • Large Marshmallows
  • 200g Dark Chocolate broken into small pieces (or chocolate chips)
  • 1 tablespoon of Olivado Sweet Almond Oil
  • Pretzels
  • Jaffas, M&M, or Smarties
  • A handful of white chocolate pieces/chips, or 100’s & 1000’s
  • Lollypop sticks/straws

 

Method

Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave until it’s fully melted. Each microwave is different, and you don’t want to burn it, so go for a shorter time (10-20 seconds on low setting) and repeat heating.

Add Olivado’s Sweet Almond oil, slowly stirring until it’s a slightly thinner consistency. Without this step, the marshmallows will have bumpy globs where the chocolate drips down instead of a smooth finish.

Insert a lollypop stick or a straw into a marshmallow and dip into the chocolate until it’s fully coated, then place on non-stick baking paper.

Break pretzels in half and insert each half on the marshmallow, on either side, acting as antlers. The melted chocolate works like glue as it hardens.

Add half a Jaffa, M&M or Smartie as the reindeer nose.

Leave them in the fridge for a while until the chocolate fully hardens. Once set, melt the white chocolate in microwave and place in a piping bag. Pipe two little dots to make the reindeer’s eyes. Alternatively, use white sugar bits from 100’s and 100’s for tiny eyes.

Dress the lolly pop stick or straw with ribbon or tinsel, and voila! Perfect little Christmas Reindeer!

Merry Christmas from Olivado

We hope you enjoy these Christmas desserts from our recipe book. If you have any questions about Olivado, our recipes, or our famous oils, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.

All the latest Olivado news and updates can be found on our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages, where you can keep up with the latest recipes and even add your own creations!

From all of us here at Olivado, both in New Zealand and in Kenya, Merry Christmas and have a wonderful 2019.

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