Getting crafty at Christmas time.
I’d like to say I came up with the idea for these myself, but that’d be a big fat lie. I spied them in Sainsbury’s magazine recently and decided they were just the personal stocking filler I was looking for, ideal to make and give away to friends and family this festive season.
Armed with a cupcakerys worth of chocolate and candy bits and bobs I set to work. Dipping, drizzling and decorating biodegradable beechwood spoons that I picked up on eBay for just a few quid, while trying my hardest to not keep eating them all as I went along (actually that is a lie, I ate loads of them).
Now I know I don’t have children, but I reckon this is just the kind of kitchen activity they’d be up for. Depending on their age they could dip the spoons in chocolate and decorate them, or just get busy decorating them when the chocolate has cooled slightly. And the shops are crammed full with cake decorating bits these days, so their imaginations can run riot, hopefully without decorating the kitchen cupboards in the process.
To use the spoons you could just eat the cooled chocolate off the spoon, but actually they work best stirred in to hot milk to make really rich hot chocolate. For a mug of the good stuff use 3 spoons to get a good but not overly chocolatey hit, I liked to pick one each of milk, light and dark, but mix up whichever you fancy.
Makes around 36 spoons, 12 each in milk, white and dark chocolate
- 100g white chocolate
- 100g dark chocolate
- 100g milk chocolate
- Various different bits and bobs like mini meringues, marshmallows, fudge chunks, edible glitter, 100’s and 1000’s, little pearls and metallic ‘crunchy stuff’
Method
- Melt the chocolate one type at a time in a glass bowl over a barely simmering pan of water (that isn’t touching the water) and once melted, dip the spoons in each in turn, spooning the chocolate up and turning it over to coat the back also.
- Lay the coated spoon on a sheet of greaseproof paper and repeat until you’ve done all of them, then get decorating.
- If you want to double dip (or triple even) wait for each coating to have totally cooled before dipping in to the next chocolate, to prevent it running.
- Sprinkle and stud the spoons with your favourite bits, making sure to press any of the larger bits in to it so they don’t fall off once the choc has cooled.
- Pop in to cellophane bags (I bought 100 on eBay for just £2 with delivery and ties), twist tie the tops and give away as stocking fillers.