This Chocolate Salami is a simple and delicious treat to give to friends and family. There’s no baking required and it’s better than Rocky Road! Tie your finished ‘salami’ with kitchen string then rub with icing sugar to look like the real thing. Finally, wrap in baking paper and tie with ribbon.

Makes 2 x 15cm ‘salami’

250g dark chocolate, good quality, at least 69% cocoa
100g butter, unsalted
80g soft brown sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
150g Marie biscuits, crushed to ½ cm chunks
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ orange, finely zested
1 tsp Bundaberg rum
75g whole almonds with skin on, roughly chopped
50g whole hazelnuts with skin on, roughly chopped
50g pistachio nuts, shelled, roughly chopped

Place the chocolate and butter in a medium stainless steel bowl. Over a pot of water acting as a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring with a spatula. Now add the brown sugar, vanilla essence, egg and yolk and stir to combine. Over a very gentle heat, you want to cook the mix for 5 minutes.

Cook until the mixture becomes smooth and the sugar has dissolved. It will be hot to touch. Now take off the heat, discard the boiler. Stir in the crushed biscuits and nuts and mix to thoroughly combine. The mixture will cool and thicken.

Lay out a 40cm x 30cm double layer of cling film. Spoon the mixture along the edge of the cling film in a long shape to roll into a sausage shape with roughly a 6cm diameter. Now using the end of the cling film, roll up the sausage. Secure the ends with some string, then set in the fridge for 3 hours. Remove the cling film, cut, eat and enjoy!