Welcome to How To Cook That I am ANN REARDON
Today we are going to make 5 different gifts that you can give away to people who love
food which is pretty much every one.
The first one that we are going to make is
Chocolate bark this is such as easy one to make and it is well loved by everyone who
receives it.
What you need to do is spread out some tempered white chocolate onto
some non-stick baking paper in a thin smooth layer.
Then let it set then once it is firm pour over some tempered milk chocolate.
And spread it over in an even layer over the top.
Before that sets move on to sprinkling your choice of decorations over the top.
I am using blanched almonds, roasted coconut strips, dried goji berries, pistachio nuts,
and freeze dried strawberries.
You can use whatever you like, fruit and nut combinations are pretty popular but kids if
you are making it for them they tend to like things like candies on top and tiny teddies
and lots of more sugar more sweet stuff added to the top there.
For a different style of chocolate bark you can pick out different colours I've got two
colours here that are in pistachios the green and the purply colour and I've used some oil
based food colouring to colour some white chocolate.
Spread out a rectangle of milk chocolate and then before it sets add one colour and then
the other dolloping it on top there and then just and mix it through.
Then before it sets add the pistachios on top and you can of course do that with whatever
colours you like.
Once they are starting to firm up you can slice them into blocks and then package as
blocks like that or you can break or cut them into shards put them into smaller boxes putting
lots of slices in there.
And they make just beautiful looking and delicious gifts.
Next super easy again we have candy cane hearts What you need to do is take two candy canes
of equal size and place them next to each other on a lined baking tray and then get
a cake pop stick you need a paper one and not a plastic one.
and put that down the middle Place them in a hot oven for just a few moments
like about 10 20 seconds.
If you leave them in there too long they will turn into liquid.
So keep an eye on them Pull them out and have a feel and if they
are warm enough to bend that's great.
These ones are very slightly softened but not quite enough to bend so I'll put them
back in the oven for a tiny bit longer.
There we go that is much better, now pinch them together onto the stick and use a knife
or your fingers just to make them a little bit of a plumper heart shape.
You'll notice these are still holding their shape and they are warm but not too hot to
touch, if you pull them out of the oven and they look like they are liquid then don't
touch, you've made them too hot and you will burn yourself.
Once you are happy with the shapes of your hearts you can leave those to cool and go
firm again.
Then fill each heart with some tempered white chocolate and then sprinkle it with decorations
of your choice before the chocolate sets.
And then you can wrap those individually in cellophane or if you want to serve them at
an event just put them into a little jar that you can serve them in.
Another easy gift is the savoury sweet combination of decorated pretzel sticks or you can use
bread sticks if you can't get the pretzel sticks.
All you need to do is put your tempered chocolate into a cup.
Dip your stick in on one end and then tap it to get rid of the excess.
quickly roll it in your chosen topping, this is just coloured sugar.
Then place to one side to set.
If you are using something heavier like m&m's dip one side in then out it on the paper to
set and then add more to the top by them by hand arranging so they look pretty.
If you just keep dipping it they are going to fall off because they are too heavy.
You can use your imagination of what you want on them, you could use sprinkles, or why not
crushed candy canes for that minty flavour and that christmassy sort of look depending
on the time of year.
And then you can just box those up once they are set.
Next we have an m&m dispenser I first started making these when I was studying,
they are great low cost gift.
They look impressive and they take a bit of time and you'll need some tools to make them
but they don't cost much at all.
You'll need one long square shaped piece of wood.
Then you'll need measure the width of your wood, mine is 1.75cm wide.
And then multiply whatever your width is by 5.
Measure that distance along your wood and draw a line.
Saw that through and then repeat that until you have 13 pieces of wood that same length.
Then measure your width again if you can't remember what it is and multiply it by 2.
Mark that off and you want to cut two of those.
Then for our last piece of wood you need to multiply your width by 10 this time, an easy
one and measure that across.
Now take one piece of wood and place it across one end, then one of the longer bits and put
it along the wood and mark where that comes to.
Place a piece across the wood and mark that again.
Now those two marks there you don't want to cut them all the way through just about 2/3
of the way so that it looks like this s.
Then place a chisel on the top and bang it with a hammer and chisel out that piece.
Then sand off any rough edges from all of your pieces.
And now we are ready to to put it together.
Take 5 of the pieces and using wood glue glue each one to the next so you end up with a
nice square.
Take another piece and glue it on two sides and add it on top to one side going across
the ones that are on the bottom layer.
Not the same way, that is going to give it more strength.
Add another one right next to it this time only putting glue on the bottom.
Wipe off any excess glue there we don't want any that is oozing out.
Then rest your longest piece next to it, don't glue this into place just place it there.
Add one bit in front of it, only glueing the bottom.
and then one more bit gluing the side and bottom so that is firmly in place.
Then quickly remove the long piece so it doesn't get stuck by any little bits of glue.
To make the top layer arrange the pieces that are left so that the two little ones are on
the middle row so that you get a square hole in the middle.
Glue them altogether just like we did with the bottom layer.
And just leave them flat on the paper there.
I am not putting them on top yet, we will let them all glue those two sections and let
them dry first.
Take a jar that you like the look of this one is a jam jar.
Use a knife to pierce the top to make like a cross shape and then bend the metal upwards.
Place it over your wood and using something firm push the metal open into the hole.
Don't use your finger because the cut metal will be sharp and I don't want you to cut
your finger.
So just push it down so that you get a nice open spot there.
Add some glue to the underside and then put that into place, then rest something heavy
on top while you wait for it to dry.
Once it is dry we need to add some nails and they are going to stop the middle bit going
all the way through and falling out of our dispenser.
Place it in the gap and line it up so that cut out chunk is lined up with one side so
that it is open on one side.
Mark where the edge of that meets on the other end, then slide it along so the missing chunk
is in the centre and mark where that is on the side.
Add your nails to each end, I am using rounded ones but if you can't get them normal ones
are fine.
Now when you put it in and slide it form side to side you can see it stops at just the right
points.
Grab a candle and rub some wax on the edges and that just makes it run smoothly.
You don't want to have heaps of wax on it so if you've got heaps of wax on it just rub
it off and then you just want just a really thin layer it just aids it in running smoothly
through there.
Add some glue on the two outer pieces being careful not to get any on the middle bit and
add your top layer across the top.
Once that is dry pour m& m's into your jar turn the wood upside down screw it on and
then flip the whole thing the right way up.
When you push the wood across it releases some m& m's, pull it back so more can fall
into the hole then push it across again.
And it makes a great gift and as I said it doesn't cost that much all you've paid for
is one piece of wood and you've got a jar that you've repurposed.
Next we have Chocolate Puzzles these are one of my favourite they are so easy and super
cute.
,
Take a puzzle cutter, this is for cutting crusts off sandwiches and making them into
cute shapes for little kids, but when I saw it I of course thought of chocolate.
So I'll see if I can find where i got them online on link to it below if I can.
Place it on some acetate or non-stick baking paper or foil and fill opposite sides with
tempered white chocolate.
Once it is full make sure its going right into the corners and then level off the top.
Then add dark or milk chocolate to the other two pieces so you get that nice contrast in
your puzzle.
gives that contrast.
Once it is set just push the pieces out of the cutter. and you have a quick, cute little
gift hat you can give to someone.
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Have a great week and I'll see you all on Friday.
[music: the boat song by youtube.com/setsailtv used with permission]