Christmas Sweets Recipes for Your Tiny Helpers

*This is a collaborative post

‘Tis the season to eat all sweets. The year is almost coming to an end, meaning the holiday that we all have been waiting for is about to come! One of the loveliest parts of the holiday season is for us to make festive goodies and indulge in sweets with the kids while enjoying some old fashion Christmas movies on the TV. These are some simple Christmas sweets recipes that you could make to fulfil those tiny little taste buds that would surely leave them wanting more! 

Christmas Rocky Road

Wonderfully gooey and drenched in chocolate, you can never go wrong with this easy Christmas delight. Hire your little helpers and let the kids decorate it with their own creativity. This Christmas rocky road is a classic and is a perfect easy dish for occupied small hands.

Ingredients: 

100g butter, cubed, with a little more for the tin

250g biscuits, preferably shortbread or chocolate biscuits

75g of shelled nuts 

100g dried fruits (mixed, preferably with raisins, cherries, or glacé ginger)

75g of the typical Christmas sweets (marshmallows, candy canes or jelly sweets)

400g chopped milk or dark chocolate (or a combination of the two)

140g of golden syrup

2 tbsp sprinkles (or anything, really!) to finish off the look

Method:

1. Prepare a 20cm square tin by buttering and lining it.  Crush  the biscuits into little pieces — it shouldn’t be smaller than a pea, but not too big, or your rocky road will fall apart.
2. Snap any large nuts in half or simply cut them with a knife, then mix them in with the crushed biscuits. Any large bits of dried fruit should also be halved, and sweets should be chopped or snapped into smaller pieces before being added to the dish.
3. Melt 300g of the chocolate, the butter, and the golden syrup in a small saucepan over low heat and stir it periodically until smooth. Pour the melted chocolate over the mixture and stir to combine.
4. Fill the tin halfway with the ingredients, and smoothen the top.  Drizzle the remaining melted chocolate over the top and sprinkle with your choice of ornaments after. Keep chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight before cutting into squares. 

Grandma’s Christmas Bread

We can never leave out this traditional grandma Christmas Bread when preparing for Christmas morning breakfasts! For most of us, this beautiful and delicious bread has been a tradition in the family, and now it’s even simple to make with the existence of a bread maker.

Ingredients: 

1 1/4 cup warm whole milk

1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice

2 tablespoons of softened butter

2 spoonful of sugar

a half teaspoon of salt

3 cups of bread flour

2 teaspoons of dry active yeast

a quarter cup of golden raisins

a quarter cup of normal raisins

1/2 cup of dried currants

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest (grated) 

And for the glaze:

a half-cup of confectioner’s sugar

a half teaspoon of milk

1 teaspoon of melted butter

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Method:

1. Place the first seven ingredients in the bread maker tray in the sequence recommended by the manufacturer. Choose the most basic bread setting, and if  applicable, select a crust colour and loaf size. Follow the bread maker’s instructions for baking (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; if needed, do add around 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour).
2. Add all the raisins, currants, and lemon zest just before the final kneading and add in the  glaze ingredients in a small bowl before sprinkling it over cooled bread.

Air Fryer Brownie

Everyone loves a delicious fudgy brownie. You no longer need to wait for hours as the air fryer made simple variation “bakes” in half of that time of a traditional brownie. Eat it with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream and you’d be up for seconds!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of normal sugar

1/3 cup of cocoa powder

1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

1⁄4 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon (or less) of kosher salt

1/4 cup melted butter, slightly cooled

an egg

Method:

1. Using cooking spray, grease a 6” round cake pan. Stir together sugar, cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Get another small mixing bowl and whisk together the melted butter and the egg. Stir both the wet and dry ingredients until everything is well mixed.
3. Smooth the top of the brownie batter into the prepared cake pan. Cook approximately 16-18 minutes in an air fryer at 175°C. Allow at least 10 minutes for it to cool before slicing.