Tallulah’s Kitchen… Easter Tiffin
Hello and Welcome to April, and indeed Easter’s edition of The Listing. Spring has “sprung” and with it comes the promise of sunny days and happy times to come. This month’s inspiration comes after coffee with very dear friend and a trip down Memory Lane – resulting in rifling through much loved recipe books, a brainstorming collaboration and then the addition of one or two extra ingredients – I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks to Vanessa, I hope you can forgive my “tweaking?”
225g Butter, melted
450g Chocolate, see notes below
50g Walnut pieces
50g Pistachio nuts
80g Dried apricots, chopped
200g Glacé cherries
400g Digestive biscuits, crushed but still with some “lumps” for texture
3 tbsp Brandy
Handful of mini chocolate eggs
This amount will fill a deep 20 x 20cm tin to a depth of approximately 4cm. I only wanted mini eggs in a small portion of mine so I choose to divide the mixture into quarters, add the mini eggs to one quarter of the finished mix and the remaining three quarters filled a 20 x 20 cm to a depth of approximately 3cm. The quarter containing the mini eggs I rolled in grease proof paper to form a “sausage” shape, chilled and then cut into slices as seen in the picture.
So let’s begin by melting the chocolate (in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water is my preferred method.) Next, mix the melted chocolate and melted butter and stir in the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a lined tin, smooth the surface, cover and pop in the fridge to chill. If you wanted round slices, like in the picture, simply roll the mixture on to grease proof paper, form a sausage shape, twist the ends of the paper to keep a nice, tight shape then pop into the fridge. You should have enough mixture for 2 or 3 “sausages” to make it easy to handle.
After a couple of hours remove from the fridge, cut into the desired sized slices and serve. This becomes a little easier to cut after 5 minutes out of the fridge, but too long and it gives way less neat, more “crumble edge” slices!
Note on the chocolate used. I made this using 70% dark chocolate, now I love the dark, bitter flavour of this chocolate but I understand it would not be to everyone’s taste as it is incredibly rich whilst not hugely sweet. If your palate craves something sweeter perhaps substitute some milk or even white chocolate. Experiment with a milk and dark mix to find your sweet spot (pun intended!)
For children, you may choose to omit the brandy, perhaps add some mini marshmallows or sprinkles instead. Whichever choice you make, enjoy, and have a very Happy Easter with your nearest and dearest.
