Candy Cane Chocolate Hearts

I saw these on the internet when I was looking for edible gift ideas and thought they were just brilliant. I already had candy canes from making my peppermint bark and had quite a few left over. All you need in addition is chocolate and a few sprinkles; these are so easy to make and really pretty.

Place a piece of greaseproof paper on a flat baking sheet or chopping board and arrange the candy canes so they make a heart shape. Make sure both ends are touching and you have no gaps - though my candy cane moved slightly as the chocolate set, leaving a gap, and it was still fine!

Melt some chocolate in a bain marie or microwave - you need about 50-60g of chocolate per heart I would say but I wasn't measuring (and I expect candy canes come in different sizes).

Pour the melted chocolate into the space inside the candy canes and add any sprinkles that you like - I had some snowflake sprinkles which I thought worked really well.

Place in the fridge for about an hour to set.

I packaged them up in festive bags to make edible gifts. You could also thread some ribbon through the top and hang these on your Christmas tree, providing your tree isn't near a radiator or the chocolate will melt!

 

I'm hosting Alphabakes this month (it's Ros from the More Than Occasional Baker's turn again next month) and the letter is X. We are allowing Christmas recipes so I'm including this.

 

 

I'm also sharing these candy cane hearts with Treat Petite, hosted by Kat at the Baking Explorer and Stuart at Cakeyboi, as they also have a Christmas theme this month.

 

 

Finally I'm sending these to Tea Time Treats; hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Jane at the Hedgecombers, it has a lovely theme this month of glitter, sprinkles and shiny stuff. The snowflake sprinkles should mean this counts.