Festive Chocolate Salami

Chocolate Salami gets its time to shine during the festive season and as complicated as it might look, it’s just a biscuit cake recipe that has been rolled into a sausage shape to look like a “salami”.

Chocolate Salami has its origins in Italy and Portugal, made with cocoa, broken biscuits (the Portuguese use Marie biscuits), butter and alcohol but as the recipe spread across Europe and South America it lost the alcohol as an ingredient.

My festive version brings the alcohol back, it is that time of the year where a bit of indulgence is allowed. I used dark and milk chocolate rather than cocoa and I feel you don’t need to add any sugar – there is enough sweetness in the chocolate and biscuits. I have seen a recipe from Nigella that uses eggs which I feel is just too much of a faff,  chocolate, butter, a good splash of alcohol mixed with biscuits, nuts and any other ingredient that takes your fancy is all you need.

You can go to town with what you add, as long as the extra ingredients is not much more than 75% of the weight of the chocolate and butter. So my recipe uses 350g chocolate and 100g butter and  the extra ingredients of broken biscuits, nuts etc should weigh up to about 325g. I used pistachios, mixed citrus peel and Cointreau as my flavour combination. You can use any nuts of your choice, toasted is better and brandy, whiskey, or any liqueur of your choice. Biscuit wise make sure it is a hard biscuit that won’t crumble when mixed. Something like ginger biscuits or Amaretti biscuits will add delicious flavour.

Rolling the chocolate mixture can be a bit messy but key is to slightly chill the mixture so you can shape it into a sausage with the help of plastic wrap. If the mixture is still soft and the bottom flattens in the fridge, take it out a few times as it cools and roll it back into shape until it has set in a round sausage shape. Bring to room temperature before slicing and enjoy!

Festive Chocolate Salami

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

  

• 250 g 70% dark chocolate
• 100 g milk chocolate
• 100 g butter at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200 g biscuits
• 75 g mixed citrus peel
• 50 g chopped nuts
• 50 ml cointreau
• 1 tsp sea salt flakes

Instructions

 

• Break the chocolate into small pieces
• In a heatproof bowl suspended over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure it does not touch the water), melt the chocolate and butter until glossy and smooth
• Mix in the vanilla extract and set aside
• Put the biscuits into a large freezer bag, seal and bash with a rolling pin until you have a bag of rough pieces (not crumbs)
• Add the biscuits, citrus peel, nuts, cointreau and sea salt to the melted chocolate and gently mix until just combined
• Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to slightly firm up
• Place a large piece of plastic wrap or baking paper on the kitchen counter
• Spoon the chocolate mixture on one side and shape into a sausage with the help of the paper, then roll it wrapping the paper around it and twisting the sides of the paper
• Place in the fridge to set
• If the mixture it too wet and you find the bottom flattens on the shelf of the fridge, just take it out and roll to reshape. You may have to do this a few times until the chocolate is completely set and keep the sausage shape
• Leave overnight to set completely
• When you want to serve, take the salami from the fridge and bring to room temperature
• Dust with icing sugar, slice and enjoy with a small glass of the liqueur used in the recipe.

I hope you enjoy this recipe for Festive Chocolate Salami. Remember to share your pics with me on Instagram when you’ve made it.