Milly Vanilla

These cute tarts are sure to impress this Christmas!

CHOCOLATE REINDEER TARTLETS

Hello everyone!

Guess what... Christmas is only a few weeks away!! Christmas is a time for food, fun and family, and I know that sometimes the food part is the most stressful. Its hard to cook for 1 person, let alone 10 and more! Well, this Christmas why not try these super cute reindeer tartlets that taste absolutely amazing and are super quick, easy and fun to bake.

I found the basis of this recipe in a magazine a few years ago, but have tweaked it a bit to make it even more scrumptious! I will tell you a few cheats and substitutes throughout the post, that you can use if you are really stuck for time or if something is not to your taste.

Lets begin :)

Ingredients:

Cookie base - I used my trusty anzac biscuit recipe for the base of these tarts, but any oat or coconut based biscuit would taste delicious. Just make sure that the biscuit is quite sturdy and will not break or crumble when you fill them with the ganache. I like the Anzac Biscuit because although the biscuit is quite sturdy, they still have a chewy, soft texture and complement the rich chocolate perfectly.

*Tip: If you are rushed for time you can always use store bought biscuits (Arnotts Butternut Snap Cookies or similar) and soften them in the oven for about 2 minutes or until pliable and then press them into rounded molds. They will still taste yummy!*

1 Cup (90g) rolled oats
1 Cup (150g) plain flour
1 Cup (220g) sugar or 3/4 Cup brown sugar (I use the brown sugar)
1/2 Cup (65g) desiccated coconut
125g butter
2 Tablespoons golden syrup
1 Teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons boiling water

Chocolate filling - A delicious chocolate ganache. If you like it really rich, then use more dark chocolate then milk chocolate (or all dark chocolate!), but if you like it creamy use more milk chocolate. I used about 2/3 milk and 1/3 dark. Just make sure that the quantities add up to 200g!

1/3 Cup Cream
200g milk or dark chocolate, chopped
65g unsalted butter, chopped

Decorations:

Strawberries and cream lollies
White Marshmallows
Pretzels

Method:

To make the anzac biscuits:

Combine oats, flour, sugar and coconut in a large bowl
Combine butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan andstir over heat until butter is melted
Combine soda and water and add to the butter mixture (It should foam and froth up); stir into dry ingredients while the mixture is still warm
Place about 2 heaped teaspoons of mixture, about 4cm apart on a tray covered in grease proof paper. Bake in a 150º oven for about 15-20 minutes or until browned.


The completed mixture

While the biscuits are in the oven, I would recommend making the ganache so it can cool.

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan over a very low heat. Stir constantly until melted and smooth - around 7 minutes. Pour into a clean, dry bowl and refrigerate until cooled - around 20 minutes.

I used Cadbury's baking Chocolate chips - they melt very quickly!

The completed ganache + a delicious bowl for licking! ;)

Now for the assembling!

When the biscuits come out of the oven, let cool for about 1-2 minutes so they do not burn you when you touch them, then carfully remove the biscuits from the tray, place in rounded tartlet moulds and gently press down on them to make the shell. Repeat for all biscuits.

Gently mold into the casing

Repeat for all biscuits!

Leave the biscuits to cool for about 5 minutes in the casing, and then carefully remove them. You should be left with cute little biscuit casings. If you have the time then grab a cookie cutter and cut the messy edges of the cases, but this does not have to be done.

Cutting the edges off


Cutting the edges off all biscuits!

Next, remove the ganache from the fridge and stir until smooth and glossy. Place about 1 heaped teaspoon of ganache into each casing and smooth over. If the ganache is not quite set yet, place the tartlets back in the fridge until the ganache is hard enough to decorate. it should be still malleable, but not runny.

Filling the cases

Now for the decorating!! :D

You can really do whatever you want, but I use Strawberries and Cream lollies for the nose, pretzels for the ears and marshmallows for the eyes. You could also use jaffa lollies for the nose, or any other thing you can find!

Place 1 Strawberries & Cream lolly towards the bottom of a tart. Cut a marshmallow into 8ths and use 2 pieces for the eyes. Break the pretzels into any shape or form and use them for the antlers. It is fun to experiment and see what shapes you can create! Finally, fill a zip-lock bag with left-over ganache and pipe eyes onto the marshmallows. There you have it! Cute little chocolate reindeer tartlets :)