Pipeable White Chocolate Ganache

What foods say Christmas to you?
At Christmas, I personally can't go without cherries, white chocolate and brandy custard. Gingerbread, pavlova and mince pies also come runners up. What's your favourite Christmas food?
I had a lovely lady ask me the other day how to make white chocolate ganache. She specified that it was for piping, however she was unable to get the ganache thick enough and firm enough to pipe at all. So here we have it, a recipe that's good for ganache anyway you want it--be it for dipping, drizzling, spreading or piping. It's very versatile and I think it's practically foolproof. You can use it for dipping as soon as it's cooled, or for spreading after sitting a little longer. If you want to pipe it, you whip it after refrigeration. Its a win win recipe.
I used compound Nestle's Melts cooking chocolate but you can use any type of cooking chocolate. The better quality, the better the result. Also, a little rule of thumb--always twice as much chocolate as cream!

Here we've paired the pipe-able White Chocolate Ganache with Dutch Spaculaas and fresh Cherries...perfect for Christmas!

THICK WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup white chocolate chips (I used Nestle compound white melts)

Place the cream in a small saucepan. Place over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbles begin to form around the edges. Remove from heat. Add the chocolate chips, and arrange them so that the cream covers them. Place a lid on the saucepan and sit for two minutes. Remove the lid and using a hand whisk, beat until the cream and the chocolate are incorporated and smooth. Sit on the benchtop until cool enough to refrigerate. Refrigerate for an hour. Beat the ganache mixture with electric beaters, for 1-2 minutes, until thick and creamy. Pipe onto your cake or dessert as desired.

Makes approximately 1 1/4 cups of ganache

Sorry about the grainy photos--my kitchen is poorly lit!

NOTES: If you desire pourable or dip-able ganache, simply use before refrigeration. The ganache thickens the longer you let it sit, in or out of the refrigerator.