#TanyaBakes - The Christmas Edition #DitsyDecember

Around this time, last year in #DitsyDecember 2016, I did this post here where I put my festive baking hat on for the very first time and cooked up some Christmassey treats - namely, Gingerbread Biscuits - from Tanya Burr's 'Tanya Bakes' and not only did I really enjoy it, they were bloomin' tasty too - even if I do say so myself. So, a year later, I figured - why not do something like it again? And with Tanya's latest book - Tanya's Christmas - having been released not too long ago, what better than to choose something from her latest offering? So, after much deliberation, I went for these cute, crispy Christmas Pud's. Adorable, festive and also very yummy too...

Mini Crispy Christmas Puddings (Makes 24):
10 minutes prep time, plus 40 minutes setting time; 20 minutes decorating time

Ingredients:

50g salted butter, plus extra for greasing

300g mini marshmallows
150g puffed rice cereal
300g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces

Icing sugar, for dusting
White, Red and Green ready-roll icing to decorate

You'll also need small holly-shaped cutters/stamps and a small, sharp knife

Line a baking tray with baking parchment and melt the butter in a saucepan over a low-medium heat. Once fully melted, add in the marshmallows, start stirring constantly until fully dissolved and take off the heat to stir in the puffed rice cereal. Mix together until fully combined into a krispy, gooey mixture. Mmhmm. Whilst the mixture if still warm-ish, star making the 'puddings'. Rub butter into your clean hands to grease 'em up a little, before taking equal chunks of mixture and rolling them into golf ball-sized balls, placing them onto your lined baking tray as you go. Repeat until all of your mixture is used up - you should have around 24 balls! Pop all of them into the fridge to set and firm up for around 20 minutes, during which you can start 'making' the chocolate topping. Melt the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl in the microwave; using short, sharp bursts of around 20-30 seconds at a time - to ensure the chocolate melts gently and doesn't burn or overheat. Check each time and once fully melted, and the balls have firmed up in the fridge - you're ready to start coating 'em! Dip them one at a time using two forks, turning them to ensure they're fully coated in the melted chocolate, take them out and let them drip of any excess and then transfer them onto a wire rack and put them back in the fridge again to set. Then, whilst they're setting, you're onto the final steps. I promise! Roll out your white, red and green ready roll icing - keeping them fairly thin! Cut out rough circles in the white (I found free-handing with a butter knife works best for a more 'rustic' feel), use a holly shaped cutter/stamp for the green holly leaves and then take small pieces of the red and roll them into the berries. And then just assemble! Using a touch of water to make things stick in place, place the white on first, then arrange the holly leaves and berries to make the finished Christmas Pudding-esque topping! And you're done!

And there we have it! Aren't they just the cutest little Christmas treats ever? Not only do they taste amazing, they're so, so pretty and adorable and what more could you really want in a festive bake, eh? I guess they don't even technically involve any 'proper' baking either, so are fairly quick and easy to throw together too. It may already be Christmas Eve, but perhaps if you have the ingredient kicking around - I'd definitely suggest you give them a go yourself. Oh hey, maybe save the recipe for next year...