Salted caramel “crack”
This is a very wrong sort of dessert concept, involving as it does a salty cracker that was promoted during our youth for its easy snappability into “bite size, snack size and man size” portions. However, it turns out the Salada biscuit is gnawingly addictive when blanketed with hard caramel and given a shiny topcoat of dark chocolate. I’m not going to waste any time trying to reason with you as to why it’s good. I’m just going to testify that when a Chat 10 Looks 3 podcast listener sent in a box of this stuff, I brie y scoffed at it before taking a cautious bite. Next thing I remember is being found semi-comatose under the empty box. It’s not called “crack” for nothing. You can serve “crack” just as it is, but this version is tarted up with some festive pistachio slivers and dried raspberries. You could use any sort of nuts. Or use half dark, half white chocolate and swirl to mix! You can use other saltine-style crackers for this recipe; I’ve also had good results with
Schär gluten-free crackers. 1 x 250g pack of Salada biscuits 200g butter
185g (1 cup) soft brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract generous pinch of salt
200g dark chocolate, chopped 50g slivered pistachios
15g dried raspberries
1 Rummage through your baking trays to find one that will fit three Salada crackers in one direction and four in the other. You can of course snap them to fit if you can’t find quite the right tray, but this is the sort of surface area you’re after. Line your baking tray with foil and then baking paper, and lay out the Saladas in a single layer.
2 In a saucepan, melt the butter and sugar together over medium heat, then cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. The caramel should be thick and gloopy, and bubbling away sullenly. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Take the caramel off the heat and quickly pour it all over the Saladas. Smooth with an offset palette knife or spatula, if you have one; if you don’t have one, get one immediately – for real, it will change your life. (Also, this would be an awesome time to remember that you forgot to preheat the oven. All is not lost: jack it up quickly – 180°C
(160°C fan-forced, okay?)
3 Now, into the oven with the lot for 15 minutes, or until the caramel has darkened to a deep gold. Keep an eye on it, as the caramel can quickly turn. When it’s a good dark colour, remove from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes, then sprinkle the chocolate over the toffee. As the chocolate melts, use your spatula to spread it out evenly – this is extremely satisfying. While the chocolate is still soft, sprinkle over the pistachios and raspberries. Allow your salted caramel “crack” to cool (not in the fridge, please), then snap into pieces and store in an airtight container.