Chocolate Salami

 

At this time of year it’s always handy to have a little something that you can whip up faster than 2 verses and a chorus of Jingle bells.

With no baking and minimal dexterity required this chocky treat is utterly splendid. Wodged together to resemble salami, thin discs cut as you go are best served alongside pre Christmas gossip and a calming cup of tea.

I love things as easy and simple as this, which somehow makes one look all homemade and creatively kooky all at the same time. The recipe is blindingly simple. You can mix it up and substitute whatever bits and bobs you have on hand, but I was particularly chuffed with the addition of ginger nuts as they added some good crunchy texture and aren’t too sickly sweet. As for the red and green of the pistachio/cranberry combo, well; ‘tis the season.

Wrapped up in waxed paper and string this is a happy deviation from the more traditional gift repertoire.

 

150g gingernut biscuits

100g butter

2 Tbs golden syrup

60 g Cocoa

100 g pistachio

50 g craisins (dried cranberries)

1)      Clear some bench space and lay out a piece of alfoil topped with baking paper about 30cm long in readiness for the mixture.

2)      Pop the bickies into a sturdy bag and bash in a firm, yet restrained fashion. (This is an ideal outlet letting out some pre Christmas stress, but it’s a fine line as it you go too vigorously they will spay everywhere and make you swear loudly)

3)      Heat the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over a medium heat, once melted stir in the cocoa and then add the remaining ingredients.

4)      Stir well to create a thick lumpy mass then plonk it alongside the long edge of the baking paper. With clean slightly damp hands wodge the mixture into a sausage shape. Then working with a bossy disposition roll the paper, foil and mixture into a long, firm sausage shape. Squeeze and twist the bits on the end and crunkle the resulting log to create the wrinkly textured surface.

5)      Chill for2 hours or until firm.

6)      To serve. Unwrap and dust with icing sugar and then loosely wrap in baking paper and some bits of string. Marvellous with a cup of tea and lashings of festive chit chatt

King of the Kingstons

 

Fighting with your siblings is a rite of passage. It instils such fine attributes as a sense of passion and the ability to make sure you are not duped. And let’s face it a dash of guile and cunning is an essential life skill, one might as well learn it young.

So let it go on public record that The Kingston biscuit, nestled in amongst its mediocre fellow Arnott’s assorted, was a prize worth fighting for. Perhaps it was the presence of chocolate, or the fact that there were only 4 of them but 8 crappy old Monte Carlos per packet, but the Kingston gave the greedy kids of Australia a lesson in tactics.

There was the quality over quantity trade option; one Kingston for 3 custard creams would always conquer my brother and his Labrador pup approach to food. Then there was the Red Riding hood esq going solo to visit Grandma routine, which always resulted in a non competitive dip in the bickie barrel. However my greatest manoeuvre was the biscuit by stealth option, which set me up for a lifetime of thinking that if no one sees you eat it then the calories don’t count.

Not so long ago I got the chance to nibble on a Kingston(which I didn’t have to endure a dead leg for) and frankly it was a great dissapointment. How could it be that the token of victory from my youth was way too sweet and miserably small?

I have taken it upon myself to reinstate some glory to this fallen hero. Hence the following recipe is not completely accurate, but it does capture the best nostalgic highlights of coconut and chocolate to great effect.

It is gluten free but that is merely a happy coincidence of this simple recipe. The absence of any flour or binding agent creates a beautiful light airy biscuit which gives an almost toffee like crunch. I just wodged mine together with some chocolate icing I had hanging around in the freezer, the Achilles heel of this plan is that not everyone has bits of surplus icing on hand. Happily I can report they are remarkably good with a glop of nutella as a substitute, or you could go the whole hog and whip up a chocolate ganache if you were really being fancy.

But whichever route you take with the filling, be sure to make sufficient to go round – as some people think that there is little dignity in fighting for biscuits.

Coconut Kingstons

These yummy biscuit sandwiches are a cinch to make, the trick is to try and keep the size of each biscuit small and dainty.

55g butter, softened
115g white sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
150g desiccated coconut

Nutella or chocolate icing

Pre-heat oven to160 degrees and line 2 trays with baking paper.

Cream the butter and sugar using an electric mixer. Mix in the egg and the vanilla. Using a spoon, stir through the coconut.

Place small teaspoonfuls of dough onto trays lined with baking paper, leaving space for spreading, and flatten slightly with a wet fork. Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until golden, and cool the biscuits on the paper on a wire rack.

Sandwich together using a teaspoon of Nutella (or if you are a purist melt 150 g of chocolate with a Tbs of butter over a low heat to make a shiny mixture)

Cupboard Love

Quite possibly the world does not need another brownie recipe – it is a genre compressively covered; however this one is a welcome addition. Able to be whipped up in a matter of minutes this cheery looking tray bake uses pantry staples to dramatic effect.

I happened to have frozen berries on hand, but they are mere window dressing to this dense and moreish treat. You can creatively dabble with requisite contrast in flavour and texture. Why not try substituting handful of raisins that have been plumped up in rum or an ethereal combination of figs and glace ginger to give a fragrant twist.

Either way it yields a divinely dark and moist slab of cakey goodness. Sugar, butter and cocoa are all heaped on the high side in this recipe to give a richness  that is quite difficult to resist.

 

 

Quick and Easy Brownie

200g butter

1 1/3 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup cocoa

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup slivered almonds

½ cup frozen berries

1. Preheat oven to 160 and line a shallow rectangular tin with baking paper.
2. In a small saucepan melt butter and sugar, allow to cool slightly then add lightly whisked eggs and vanilla.
3. In a large bowl combine flour, cocoa and nuts. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well.
4. Fold trough frozen fruit (reserving afew for the top)
5. Pour into tin, smooth out to sides and then artfully place any extra berries and nuts.
6. Bake for 40 mins or until crusty on top and a skewer inserted to the centre comes out clear.
7. Allow to cool in tin, before cutting into delicate squares.

 

"Sometime's life is a golden gaytime!"

More of an assembly job than a hard and fast recipe this little number I whipped together last weekend when the winds of change were blowing our way.