Bake your Way to a Memorable Christmas Tree Display

A time to share with family and friends, Christmas is the season of good will to all men… but it’s also the time for joy and laughter! With that in mind, we’re going to explain how to bake your way to a memorable Christmas tree display... Let the fun begin!

1. Salt dough ornaments

A great idea for home-made tree decorations, you can use salt dough to fashion ornaments. All you need to make them is flour, water and salt. This is an afternoon's entertainment all by itself, and it’s the perfect activity to do with the kids. Transform the dough into fun, festive ornaments by simply using cookie-cutters and edible decorations, such as hundreds and thousands.

You must use salt dough because it's an effective preservative. If you don’t use salt, there’s a good chance the ornaments will go mouldy before the end of the festive period. Although they are edible, you may find them so pretty that you want to keep them in a box with the other tree decorations until the following Christmas - and salt dough will allow you to do so.

To make the dough, you will need four cups of all-purpose flour, one cup of table salt and 1.5 cups of warm water. Mix the flour and salt and then stir in the warm water, using a spoon first and then your hands. Knead until it's smooth and pliable, then roll the mixture out and cut into shapes using cookie-cutters.

Poke a hole in the edge of each ornament using a drinking straw, so that a ribbon can be threaded through to hang them on the tree when cooked. Bake in a 300°F oven for around one hour. This is where it could get messy! Decorate your ornaments with anything you like -  edible cake decorations if you're planning to eat them, or maybe craft items such as glitter if not.

2. Sugar charms

You'll need sunflower oil, eight fruit-flavoured boiled sweets, a 400g bag of clear mint sweets and two metres of narrow coloured ribbon. Use the oil to grease two large baking trays. Arrange the fruit sweets by colour and then crush them into bowls, keeping each colour separate - arrange small piles of the crushed sweets on the trays.

Melt the mints in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once melted completely, remove the mixture from the heat, as it will burn easily. Design the shapes by drizzling a spoonful of the melted clear mints over the piles of coloured boiled sweets on the tray, remembering to leave a hole to thread the ribbon through.

Leave the sweets to set - this should only take about ten minutes. Carefully remove them by hand from the tray. They will be quite brittle, so don't try and rush this process or they may snap. Tie a length of ribbon through each one so you can hang them on your tree. Eat within four days for the fruitiest taste, although they will keep for up to four weeks.

3. Home-made chocolate tree decorations

You will need 100g milk chocolate, 100g white chocolate, a selection of Christmas cake decorating toppings - such as silver balls, sprinkles and hundreds and thousands - greaseproof paper, a tray and fine ribbon or twine.

Break up the chocolate into small pieces into two bowls, keeping the white and milk chocolate separate. To melt the chocolate without burning it, place each bowl in a larger bowl of boiling water - making sure no water goes over the side of the bowl into the chocolate, of course. While waiting for the chocolate to melt, cut the ribbon or twine into short lengths, ready to attach it to the chocolates.

When the chocolate has melted, spoon it onto a greaseproof paper lined try and decorate as you choose, with the sprinkles and other edible decorations. As it starts to set, form the chocolate into flat, circular shapes, making sure you make a hole in each one to tie the ribbon through. Don’t attempt this when it is still boiling hot or you will burn your fingers!

When the chocolate decorations have set, remove them from the greaseproof paper and add the ribbon or twine so that you can hang them on your Christmas tree. How long they will last will depend on how hot your room is - if your tree is near a fire (or if you are a chocoholic) they won't last long.

As you begin to prepare for Christmas, remember that Solent Plastics provides a large range of premium food grade storage products that is ideal for all your festive baking. What’s more, we have the perfect plastic storage solution for all your Christmas decorations. Please contact us for further details.