Goodies in the Christmas tree

This year you’ll have to make twice as many cookies and make an extra batch of fudge, because now you’ll be hanging Christmas goodies in the tree. In many parts of Scandinavia Christmas lasts for twenty days, which brings us up to Twelfth Night. The exception is Denmark, where the last day of Christmas is Canute's Day - 7th of January. This is when the Christmas tree is ceremonially carried out of the house. Before that it has to be stripped of the decorations and treats on it branches. We’ve made that easy for you this year. This year the decorations are edible!

Using scissors and a stapler you can make decorations from pretty ribbons, colourful paper and cut-out pictures and fill them with all types of goodies. We baked sugar pretzels and tied red satin ribbons on them to hang them from the tree, and wrapped toffee in cellophane decorated with little Santas. We made gingerbread cookies and piped icing on them. The traditional Scandinavian heart-shaped paper baskets are ideal to put cookies in, and the Christmas baubles that can be taken apart can be filled with homemade toffee. We wrapped banana fudge in clingfilm with an outer layer of crêpe paper. Then we decorated the parcels with sequins and tied them together in bunches of three. We put macaroons in little pretty baskets. You can download templates for these decorations, but you should use them mainly for inspiration. Raid your button box to find pretty things to use.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas, ending with a scrumptious feast, if there’s anything left on the tree by then!

Sugar pretzels

makes approx 30

Ingredients
150 g margarine
2 Tbsp Dansukker Sugar
4 Tbsp whipping cream
400 ml plain flour

Brushing
Water

Garnish
Dansukker Nib Sugar


Cream the margarine and sugar. Add cream and flour and work to form a dough. Form into long, thin 20 cm (9") lengths. Make into pretzels. Brush with water and dip in nib sugar. Place on a baking sheet. Bake in the middle of the oven, 175° (350°F) for approx. 12 minutes. Leave to cool on a rack.

Chocolate toffee

makes approx 35

Ingredients
100 ml whipping cream
50 ml Dansukker Light Syrup
50 ml Dansukker Sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
aluminium foil


Combine cream, syrup, sugar and cocoa powder in a large glass bowl. Microwave on full power (700 W) for 5 minutes. Stir, then cook for another 2 minutes on full power.

Pour the mixture on to a large greased sheet of aluminium foil. Leave the toffee to cool. Cut into pieces and wrap in cellophane.

Iced gingerbread & Icing

Ingredients
150 g Dansukker Sugar
75 ml Dansukker Light or Dark Syrup
150 g margarine or butter
2 small eggs
1/2 Tbsp grated orange peel
1/2 Tbsp ginger
1/2 Tbsp cloves
1/2 Tbsp bicarbonate of soda
400 ml plain flour


Bring the sugar and syrup to the boil. Add the fat and let it melt. Leave the mixture to cool.

Stir in the eggs, spices, bicarb and most of the flour. Cover the dough with a little flour and leave in a cold place for a couple of hours or overnight.

Knead the dough on the work surface until smooth. Roll out to approx. 2 mm. Cut out shapes using a cookie cutter. Place them on a greased baking sheet. Make a small hole in each cookie for the string. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes in 175 °C (250 °F). Leave the cookies to cool on the baking sheet.

Icing

Ingredients
400 ml Dansukker Icing Sugar with Strawberry Taste
1 egg white
2 ml (half a small teaspoon) spirit vinegar

Whip together