Red-Nosed Reindeers

5 tbsp Lyle’s Golden Syrup

50g butter

200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

250g digestive biscuits, crushed finely

2 tbsp Tate & Lyle Demerara Sugar

300g milk chocolate, broken into pieces

DECORATION:

24 (approx.) small red sweets

50g Tate & Lyle Icing Sugar

50g white fondant icing

Cellophane, for wrapping

Thin ribbon or raffia, for tying

Brown pipe cleaners, for the ‘antlers’

Put the golden syrup, butter and dark chocolate into a saucepan and heat gently, stirring often, until melted and smooth.

Add the biscuit crumbs and demerara sugar, stirring them in thoroughly. Let the mixture cool for about 20 minutes, then form into about 24 balls, placing them on a tray as you make them. Chill in the fridge until firm.

Melt the milk chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Dip each ball into the chocolate, using two forks to help. Place them back on the tray as you do them. Place a red sweet on each chocolate ball to form the ‘red nose’. Chill until firm.

To finish decorating the reindeer’s faces, mix the icing sugar with a little cold water to make a thick glace icing. Make tiny white ‘eyes’ with the fondant icing, fixing them in place with a little glace icing. Pierce a fine skewer or cocktail stick in the centre of each ‘eye’, to look like the ‘pupils’.

Wrap each chocolate ball in cellophane or put them into small sweet bags, and tie with ribbon or raffia for hanging them to the Christmas tree. Wind the pipe cleaners around the top, twisting them to resemble ‘antlers’.