Santa Advent Calendar

Santa's count down beard

I added some cotton wool to Santa's hat

I saw this quite clever Santa advent calendar recently on Pinterest but I had trouble opening up the file , so I printed out the photo and traced the Santa and typed up the dates. 

I'll get my girls to cut off one number per day to indicate how many days are left until Christmas. 
The site I got the idea from had a really cute printable file (I just couldn't open it on the computer I was using at the time). Find site with printable file here. 
That site referenced another as the source of the original idea. The original site did it differently with cut paper. click here for cute cut alternative.

Hot Chocolate on a Spoon

Recently I wanted to give a gift to a colleague and his wife who had just had a baby, but I'd already put money in for the present that my staffroom bought for them. I decided to make them a couple of little things that were just from me. One of the things I made was some "Hot Chocolate on a Spoon".

Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe, glass jug (or similar). I heat the chocolate for 30seconds then stir it and heat it for another 30 seconds. I keep doing this until the chocolate has melted. Be careful not to get any water in the chocolate (i.e. from a wet spoon) because the chocolate turns to crystals and becomes useless.

Pour the melted chocolates into moulds. I used ice cube trays because I think that one cube is about right for one cup of hot chocolate. I've seen other people add marshmallows to the top of the chocolate at this stage to make "Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow on a Spoon". Allow the chocolate to cool and place a spoon in the centre of each cube then leave the cubes to completely set.

When the chocolates have completely set, remove them from the moulds, package them up and add a label.

 I added the following label to my chocolates.

Hot chocolate on a spoon

Microwave instructions

Place one "Hot Chocolate on a Spoon" in a mug and then fill with milk. Heat in the microwave for one minute then stir. Heat for one further minute and stir again. (If the chocolate still hasn’t all melted you may need more time in the microwave.)

Stove top instructions

Heat one cup of milk in a saucepan. When the milk is hot, stir in one "Hot Chocolate on a Spoon" and keep stirring until the chocolate has all dissolved. Pour the hot chocolate into a mug and enjoy.

200 grams of chocolate made 6 and a half cubes (I ate the half!). I've also made "Hot Chocolate on a Stick" by using paddle-pop sticks instead of plastic spoons. In the past I've made these using cheap chocolate (home brand/no frills) and the result is ok but the resulting hot chocolates are only as good as the cheap chocolate. Better chocolate makes better hot chocolate. This time I used Aldi brand and I was happy with the outcome.

I think I might make some of these for Christmas presents.