Chocolate salami

THIS Italian recipe is commonly served as a dessert that contains no meat but plentiful treats.

In Italy, it’s known as “salame di cioccolato”.

It’s a firm favourite at Jannettas and in our family.

The beauty of this recipe is that it requires no baking – and it’s delicious, too.

Time to prepare:

15-20 minutes (but you need to refrigerate it overnight)

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS

600g digestive biscuits 250g mixed nuts 250g pistachio nuts, roughly chopped 250g butter, melted 5 dessert spoonfuls cocoa powder, sieved 5 dessert spoonfuls syrup icing sugar, for decoration

METHOD

1 Dust a baking parchment with icing sugar and put to one side.

2 In a bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, butter and syrup.

3 Roughly crush the biscuits into chunks – not crumbs – and add them to the cocoa powder mix with the mixed nuts and pistachios and combine.

4 Dust your hands with icing sugar and shape the mix into a salami log shape.

5 Place the salami log onto a baking parchment and tie both ends of the parchment with string. Refrigerate overnight.

6 When you’re ready to serve, dust with icing sugar, slice and serve.

● By Nicola Hazel, owner of Jannettas Gelateria in St Andrews. Go to www.jannettas.co.uk