From the heart: Christmas gift recipes

Christmas chocolate bars

This is a method for tempering chocolate that gives the finished bars a bright gloss and nice snap. The temperatures are important, so you'll want a digital probe thermometer. Make sure no liquid gets in the chocolate while you're tempering it or it will seize. Once you've got the technique, you can mould chocolate into any shape you like. You can use chocolate bar moulds or festive shapes.

VIDEO: Karen Martini's tempered chocolate bars

600g dark chocolate 65-75 per cent cocoa

Dried fruit, nuts or anything else you like

1. Finely chop the chocolate in a food processor and tip into a steel bowl (this helps heat transfer).

2. Using a saucepan that will snugly fit the bowl on top, bring about five centimetres of water to the simmer. Reduce the heat so that the water stays warm but isn't bubbling and place the bowl of chocolate on top. Wait until about 60 per cent of the chocolate has melted before stirring it with a spatula to evenly melt the remainder. The chocolate temperature should be about 50C (don't heat it more than this).

3. Remove the bowl and keep stirring the chocolate until it is smooth and shiny. On a clean bench, pour out two-thirds of the chocolate and set the remaining back over the simmer pot, off the heat, to keep it warm. Using a large palette knife, work the chocolate back and forth over itself continuously until it begins to thicken and the temperature drops to about 26C (it will be quite thick by now and you can pull it together into a pile to check the temperature).

4. Scrape the chocolate off the work surface and return to the bowl with the warm chocolate in it. Stir through until it reaches 30-32C and is smooth and shiny. You will need to briefly warm it over the warm water, but there is no room for error here - it must not go over 32C. Lift the bowl off a couple of degrees before 32C and stir and watch as the temperature continues to rise.

5. Pour the chocolate into moulds, tapping them gently on the bench to knock out any air pockets and top with anything you fancy: pistachios, dried cherries, dried rose petals, macadamia nuts, toasted almonds, gold leaf, dried cranberries, chunks of halva, sesame seeds. Leave to set at room temperature. Don't refrigerate.

Makes 4-6 bars

Gold almond praline

These little golden treats make great token gifts and are perfect edible decorations for the Christmas tree. And they just happen to be delicious, too.

600g blanched almonds

550g castor sugar

gold card, gold leaf, cellophane and ribbon

1. Preheat the oven to 150C fan-forced or 170C conventional.

2. Spread the almonds on a baking tray and roast until lightly golden, about six minutes. The nuts need to be warm when they go into the caramel.

3. In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar with 60ml of water, bring to the boil and cook to a medium to dark caramel. Be careful with the caramel as it is very hot.

4. Tip the warm nuts into the caramel, stirring to coat thoroughly.

5. Pour your praline into rough circles (you could use rings for a neater result) on baking paper. Flatten out the circles with the back of a spoon or place some baking paper over the top and press down with a baking tray. Leave to cool.

6. Once the praline has set, transfer to rounds of gold card, decorate with some gold leaf, wrap in cellophane and tie with ribbon or twine.

Makes about 15

Gingerbread Christmas cookies

You can have a lot of fun cutting these spicy cookies into different shapes, from circles to more elaborate festive forms - Christmas trees, stars and even snowflakes.

COOKIES

160g unsalted butter

140g castor sugar

180g brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tbsp molasses

500g plain flour

1½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 tsp mixed spice

2 tbsp ground ginger

LEMON ICING

1½ lemons, juiced

300g pure icing sugar, sifted

1. Cream butter and sugars in a food processor. Add the eggs and molasses and process until combined. Add remaining ingredients and bring together to a smooth dough. Rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced or 200C conventional. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

3. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1 centimetre thick and cut out cookies. Lift on to lined tray, leaving a couple of centimetres between each, and bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden. They will still be a little soft when they come out of the oven so leave to cool on the tray.

4. To make the lemon icing, mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice until you have a thick honey-like consistency - adjust with more sugar or juice if needed.

5. Dip the cooled biscuits in the icing or decorate using a squeeze bottle or piping bag - you can also set edible silver balls in the icing to add a little more sparkle - and place on a rack to set.

Makes about 30, depending on shapes.