Every family has their Christmas traditions, and there is something special about making an effort at Christmas by whipping up some Christmas bakes that will be relished by everyone; even more so if there’s chocolate involved!

Here at the Chocolate Emporium we each have our favourites that bring back memories of Christmases spent in the kitchen at home, listening to our favourite Christmas songs and preparing some fabulous Christmas treats – and as we’re all chocoholics, we thought we would share with you our top 5 Christmas Chocolate Bakes.

1. Mince Pie Brownies – a twist on a Christmas Classic

This recipe combines two Christmas favourites in a mash-up of brownies and mince pies!  We used our Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix, which you can order by clicking on the link above.  Follow the cooking method on the box to the point of spooning the mixture into the prepared tin. 

Then, spoon a little mixture into a large square tin and this is the point you add 6 ready-made small mince pies (leaving them whole).  Scrape over the rest of the mix, easing between and over the pies, level the top, and put it into the oven (pre-heated to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4), until the top has a shiny papery crust and the sides are just beginning to come away from the tin.

Take out of the oven and leave to cool then dust with icing sugar and cut into small squares. 

These are deliciously wicked with all the flavours of Christmas rolled into one! 

2. Chocolate Cornflake Cakes – one to make with the kids!

We reckon you can use just about any flavour of either milk or dark chocolate for this recipe and if you want to jazz it up a bit to add a festive flavour or two, we have a selection of Christmas flavoured Chocolate Bars to choose from – check out our chocolate bar range here.

Whatever flavour chocolate you use, this is a great recipe to get the kids involved in the kitchen!

You will need 50g butter, 100g of milk or dark chocolate broken into chunks, 3 tbsp golden syrup and 100g cornflakes (set aside in a separate bowl).

Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a saucepan over a low heat and allow to cool before pouring over the cornflakes.  Stir with a wooden spoon and spoon into 12 cupcake cases and put in the fridge to set. . . sprinkle some icing sugar on top to make them all Christmassy!

Simple, easy and fun! 

3. Christmas Rocky Road Chocolate Bars

We have Nigella to thank for this one!  We all love Rocky Road at the best of times, but this seasonal version uses Amaretti biscuits, nuts and glace cherries, with a bit of edible glitter to add some Christmas sparkle!

The recipe calls for good quality dark and milk chocolate, so we used a combination of our Lindt Creation Hazelnut Mousse Milk Chocolate Bar (Saves on buying the nuts) and our Lindt Dark Chocolate Bar (which has no added sugar and is gluten free)!  

The method is easy and apart from melting all the ingredients together in a pan, this needs no cooking and just sets in the fridge in a foil tray.

A guaranteed crowd pleaser!  Click on the link for Nigella’s recipe here.

4. Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies 

You will need to buy cookie cutters for these delicious Christmas biscuits or, if you’re really creative, you can make your own cardboard templates!

If you’re familiar with making gingerbread biscuits, this has the usual ingredients with the addition of a good quality cocoa powder.  We used our Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Premium Cocoa which you can order by clicking the link above.

Put 125g of butter, 110 g of brown sugar, and 125g golden syrup in a bowl and mix with an electric whisk until pale and creamy. Add 1 egg and mix until combined. Add 350g plain flour, 25g Ghirardelli Cocoa, 1 tbsp of ground ginger and combine - use your hands to bring the dough together until smooth. Place the dough in a plastic bag and place in the fridge for 30 mins until firm.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to the thickness of a £1 coin.  Use the cookie cutters to make your Christmas shapes and place on a parchment lined baking tray and cook in an oven heated to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4 for 12-15 mins until firm.

Wait until they've cooled and decorate with readymade icing from a tube (saves time)!

5. Chocolate Truffles

Homemade chocolates are always a treat to make and give as gifts and we found lots of different recipes for these. . .  but we’re going to save you the trouble!

Because, here at the Chocolate Emporium we have the biggest range of delicious top quality truffles with different flavours from all around the world! 

Our Ultimate Lindt Chirstmas Chocolate Collection has 30 different Lindt Lindor varieties. . . all in one bag!  And, you can get 10% off if you use the code 'ULTIMATE' at checkout.

And, don't forget our luxury chocolate Pick & Mix Collection where you can create your own selection of delicious truffles from our huge range of Lindt, Ghirardelli, Godiva and Monty Bojangles.

Have a super, chocolatey Happy Christmas from all of us here at The Chocolate Emporium.