Christmas Jewels

This is a lengthy cooking project for all the family: it can take a whole day to decorate the tree with home made ornaments from start to finish but, what fun when even a failed experiment reaps so many rewards. No broken ornament will be left uneaten. I guarantee that the little (and older) helpers who hung the lower decorations after having licked their fingers clean, shall often come back during the holidays to eat the cookies off the tree. My daughters still remember fondly their Hansel and Gretel forays.
The miniature Christmas trees are a fun and fast way to create an unusual Christmas table.

Gingerbread ornaments for the Christmas tree (Easy, a whole day playing with the children, cheap)

Ingredients:
Gingerbread cookie dough

Dry elements
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon of ground pepper
1½ teaspoons salt
Wet elements (at room temperature)
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1½ cups molasses

1 cup of brown sugar
Additional flour for dusting

Icing (glue and basis to paint)
3 large egg whites
4½ cups of confectioner sugar
1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
½ teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lemon (4 drops)
Sugar sprinkles of different colors
Food colorant either in powder or liquid form

Material:
Food processor with the dough attachment on
Eggbeater
Parchment paper
Colander
Salad bowl
Cookie sheet
Cookie cutters
Rolling pin
Skewer
Thin thread or ribbon
Scissor
Salad bowl
2 to 3 paintbrushes varying from thin to thick

Place the colander over the salad bowl and sift the dry elements through.
Place the wet ingredients into the food processor and pulse until well mixed. Add the dry elements plus the sugar and pulse until well mixed. Do it in batches if you need to.
Dust your hand and a sheet of parchment paper with flour. Roll the dough in it and separate into six balls. Wrap in plastic and chill for one hour at least.
Prepare the icing, by mixing all its ingredients, except for the lemon drops, sprinkle and food colorants into the food processor at medium speed. Add the drops of lemon and increase the speed to high for 5 minutes or until the mixture has tripled in volume. Separate the icing in as many portions as you want colors. Mix in the colorant to obtain the desired colors. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.
Heat oven to 320. Place the ball between two sheets of parchment and roll out to ½ an inch using the rolling pin. Using the cutters dipped into flour, cut into desired shapes. Keep the cut out dough, roll into a ball and refrigerate. Create small indentations in the cookies with the tip of a pencil, and fill up with sugar sprinkles. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the oven and pierce a whole with a skewer about 1 inch from the cookie borders. Cool completely before icing and decorating with more sprinkles. Thread the ribbons through, when the icing has hardened and the sprinkles settled.
Repeat until you run out of dough.
Use on the tree as you would regular ornaments.

On our Christmas tree, I only use the cookies, a few silver balls and lights. You can of course add your collection of decoration.

Christmas Tree dessert
(Easy, Preparation time: 30 minutes, Refrigerating time: 2 hours, Cheap)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Mousse
7 oz bittersweet chocolate with at least 55% cacao content
2 tablespoons butter
1/3cup coffee
4 eggs
The zest of an orange

Green Tea Mousse
2 cups whole milk
4 yolks
¼ cup superfine sugar
1 cup of heavy cream
½ cup confectioner sugar
4 gelatin leaves
1 tablespoon of green tea powder

Tree:
18 sugar ice cream cones (the diameter must be slightly smaller than the glass)
½ cup royal icing (see recipe above)
4 oz dark bitter chocolate
1tablespoon coffee
M and M (baking size)

Material:
Salad Bowl refrigerated
Egg Beater attachment refrigerated
1 saucepan
2 salad bowls
1 wooden spoon
1 rubber spoon
18 small candle glasses

For the chocolate mousse:
Melt the butter in the saucepan over low gas. Break the chocolate in small pieces and add to the melted butter. Pour the coffee, stirring constantly until the chocolate has melted.
Let cool but not solidify.
Separate the white and the yolks. Add the yolks to the chocolate, when it is at room temperature, stirring well. Add the orange zest.
Beat the whites until stiff and, using the silicone spoon, fold them carefully into the chocolate batter. Pour into 6 glasses. Refrigerate for 1 to three hours. Consume immediately. Leftover chocolate mousse will tend to harden excessively.

For the green tea mousse:
Pour the gelatin in the cold water.
Prepare a crème by mixing the yolks and sugar in a salad bowl with the wooden spoon. Pour the milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil over the low setting of the gas. Remove from the gas and pour over the yolks and sugar. Return the cream to the saucepan and the pan to the gas on low. Constantly stir without bringing to a boil until thickened for about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the gelatin and the tea. Mix well and bring to room temperature.
To remediate any curdling of the cream, simply pour into a blender and mix.
Pour the heavy cream and confectioner sugar in the refrigerated salad bowl. Using the eggbeater, whip to soft peaks. Carefully fold into the green tea cream. Pour into 12 glasses and refrigerate until ready to serve.
If you freeze the mousse, you will obtain a delicious green tea ice cream.

For the trees:
Break the chocolate in pieces in a microwave proof bowl. Add a tablespoon of coffee. Microwave on high for two minutes. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
Using a paintbrush, paint half the sugar cones with the white royal icing, and half with the chocolate. Decorate the trees with the M and M. Let it dry

Before dinner, place each sugar cone over a glass filled with mousse and use as a decoration for your table.

All the recipes, except for the green tea mousse, includes raw eggs which are not recommended for consumption by pregnant women.