Rocky road

Rocky road, one of those fabulous things you are sure must be American (who else throws so many calorie rich things into melted chocolate and calls it dessert?) but actually turns out to be European (or not; the origins remain unclear). Wherever it came from, it is definitely here to stay, and to my surprise I realised I'd never made it myself. While it is one of the easiest recipes to make, one of my colleagues actually had his 8 year old daughter make it for his birthday treat.

So, for a quick (but very rich) and easy (no baking involved) treat:

Ingredients
400 g chocolate (I used 200 g milk and 200 g dark)
250 g butter
100 ml golden syrup

Melt all these in a heatproof bowl over boiling water, until well combined. Then, you can add whatever you like, but classic ingredients include:

- crushed digestive biscuits
- raisins/sultanas/dried cranberries
- marshmallows
- nuts

For mine, I added:
200 g digestive biscuits (crushed)
100 g dried cranberries
about 10 marshmallows sliced into smaller bits

I left out the walnuts because I was planning to put in M&Ms, but then I forgot about the M&Ms, so the chocolate/filling ratio was not ideal. Will have to try again.

Anyway, line a tray with baking parchment. Stir the biscuits into the chocolate mixture, and then stir in any other ingredients you have until they are well covered in chocolate. Pour the mixture into your prepared tray and leave to set in the fridge for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. Slice into small cubes (veeeery small cubes, it is very rich). The recipe makes quite a lot (depending on how small you cut them) so you could halve the ingredients for a more modest amount.
I wouldn't consider it a dessert myself, more something you have with a cup of tea after a long day (or during a film festival, which is where I handed out most of mine to grateful friends and other festival goers). Easy, quick and delicious!