More Christmas cooking

I usually buy a gingerbread house or gingerbread train kit from Aldi each year. Tassy and I have great fun decorating them and I think they're so beautiful. But none of us like gingerbread, and I hate waste. I usually force myself to eat at least a bit... then pick off the decorations and throw away the rest.

Sooooo this year I thought i would try making a chocolate house. Just a tiny one - not too crazy. Have you ever heard of a chocolate house before? I don't think I have... and I can tell you why. Those things are tricky! Making the walls and roof wasn't too hard - I just drew a pattern, piped the outlines with melted chocolate and filled them in with more chocolate. I froze them then joined them together with melted chocolate, then back into the fridge. But the decorating was tricky... Mostly because I couldn't hold the house without it melting! I think if I ever do one again I'll use different chocolate - maybe choc melts would work better than the Ghirardelli chocolate I had on hand).

Do you like the little heart shaped cutout above the door? Well let me tell you how to make that. Firstly, make sure your white chocolate is nice and hot. Start piping a heart shape and pretend not to be surprised when the centre of the heart disappears inside the house. Of course you planned it, didn't you!

And here it is in all its naked glory.