A few days ago, I shared with you the tradition of drawing gifts in my family. Today, I'm going to tell you about another tradition at our home: desert roses. I believe that not a single Christmas since I was born has gone without these little treats. It must be said that it's super simple, quick and completely addictive. But this year I decided to twist this emblematic recipe a little by giving it a much more "Christmas" shape. With these tree desert roses, I can say I'm starting to get in the mood, can't I?
What is the origin of the name desert roses?
Desert roses are little delicacies made of corn flakes and fat coated in chocolate. As it dries, the chocolate hardens and the desert rose becomes crispy. It owes its name to the resemblance to the rocks found in the desert (the resemblance to a real desert rose is actually striking).
What chocolate for desert roses?
Desert roses are traditionally made with dark chocolate. But you can certainly use milk chocolate if you feel like it. In that case, I advise you not to add icing sugar.
The principle of the desert rose tree
If you're used to making desert roses, this won't throw you off. In fact, you just need to make desert rose wafers of different sizes and stack them on top of each other using a small drop of melted chocolate.
I think the most difficult part will be finding enough trays and space in your fridge to store your little wafers because the assembly is really simple.
The desert roses recipe
And for those not familiar with making desert roses, it's super simple: melt the chocolate, vegetable fat and half the icing sugar in a large pot or Dutch oven (it will be easier to distribute the chocolate evenly). Then just pour in the corn flakes and coat them well with chocolate.
Making the wafers
When all the petals are well coated with chocolate, take a small amount and spread it into a wafer on parchment paper. The idea is to make circles progressively larger at each step to stack them in the shape of a tree. For reference, I think my bottom wafer should be about 20 cm in diameter and 2 cm thick. The top one should be about 3 cm in diameter, I think. Once our little wafers are made, we leave them in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Desert roses that don't melt
To keep the desert roses from melting, I add vegetable fat to the recipe. It's a fat that is a bit harder than butter at room temperature and will keep your desert roses nice and solid.
Assembling the desert rose tree
Then just melt 100 g of chocolate to hold the wafers together (a small drop of chocolate is enough between each layer). Once your tree is assembled, a little dusting of icing sugar with a sifter and you're done! Your Christmas candies are ready!
I usually place my little trees as decoration on the Christmas table. It's a nice way to dress up a table runner. In fact, it's quite rare that they haven't been devoured before dessert!
Desert roses tree
