Taking It Out On The Chocolate

Yesterday when I was groceries shopping at Whole Foods ($6 for two mini baguette and a tomato), I was struck in awe by the presence of a X'Mas tree. Not any ol' X'Mas tree but a 17-tier (I counted) chocolate covered slivered almonds formed 3-foot X'Mas tree. The almonds gave it a very realistic look and each layers were sprinkled by powdered sugar. It looked very nice and the amount of chocolate involved was unfathomable. I circled the structure twice just to take it all in.

Ever since I've done my Mont Blanc chestnut cake, it has given me some confidence in myself that perhaps I'm good at baking and dessert making. So I think for X'Mas I'm taking on making a X'Mas tree with chocolate. It couldn't be that hard, it's just melting chocolate, roasting store bought almond slivers and submerge them into the melted chocolate, then form them into shape and stack it on top one another. I wonder how it would fare with rice crispies instead of almonds. Even though it'll look great with the textures of almonds.

Though I've been meaning to try William Sonoma's white chocolate peppermint bark and since I couldn't find the new Ghirardelli version, I think I'll make the X'mas tree in white chocolate and sprinkle broken pieces of peppermint striped candy cane into it as decorative ornaments. I also still have some silver dragées lying around, it might work with some thin red icing garlands.

Of course, I can't imagine doing a majestic 3-foot tree. Maybe a foot-tall miniature to accompany a black forest yule log or a row of cherry chocolate cupcakes with X'Mas tree-shaped whipped cream tops and star-shaped confetti sprinkles. Baking has got me excited for the holidays.