Radio Recipes!

Next Tuesday, 11^th April at 10.45am I'll be talking to Bernie Keith on his Radio Show, The Bernie Keith Show, BBC Radio Northampton, chatting about chocolate. I promised Bernie's Producer, Sarah that I'd post the recipes, along with photos of the bits and pieces mentioned so that if anyone wanted the recipes or any other information, it was available.

Here goes :

Easter Nests

200g plain chocolate, broken into small pieces

30g golden syrup

50g unsalted butter

100g Rice Krispies (or cornflakes if you prefer)

3 mini eggs for each next

Makes 12

Place the chocolate, syrup and butter into a bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water.

While this is melting, line a muffin tray with 12 paper cases.

Whisk the chocolate mixture together until it's smooth and shiny, then remove from the heat. Add the cornflakes and mix to coat evenly.

Portion out the mixture into nest shapes in the paper cases and put ¾ mini eggs in the middle of each. Place in the fridge to set.

Chocolate Notes:

When melting chocolate do so in a large bowl and glass is the best.

Do not overheat chocolate, gently simmer the water.

Leave the melting chocolate alone.

Make sure that the simmering water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. It should be the steam from the water that melts the chocolate.

I realise that this is not a traditional Easter Egg but hey does it really matter so long as it's chocolate?! What I love about this is it's easy and makes heaps so whilst it sounds like it could be expensive if you've lots of treats to give then you'll find it's great value too.

Rocky Road

250g dark chocolate

150g milk chocolate

175g soft butter, unsalted

4 x 15ml tbsp golden syrup

200g hobnobs

*150g shelled Brazil nuts

*150g red glace cherries

*125g mini marshmallows

Put the biscuits into a freezer bag and roll with a rolling pin until you get a mixture of rubble.

Chop the Brazil nuts into different sizes.

Chop both sorts of chocolate into small pieces, or use chocolate buttons made for melting and then put them into a heavy-based saucepan to melt with the butter and syrup over a gentle heat.

Take the pan off the heat and add the biscuit and nuts, cherries and mini marshmallows. Turn carefully so that all the ingredients are coated with the syrupy chocolate.

Tip into a foil try (I use a tray bake size), smoothing the top as best you can, although it is meant to be uneven.

Refrigerate until firm enough to cut, which will take about 1½-2 hours. Take the set block out of the tray. With the long side in front of you cut 6 slices down and 4 across so that you have 24 squares.

Original recipe was taken and tweaked from “Nigella Christmas”.

This is the basic Rocky Road recipe. The three ingredients marked “*” can be swapped to suit your own personal taste. You can choose any of the ingredients given on your “Design your own Rocky Road” sheet attached.

Make ahead tip:

Make the Rocky Road and refrigerate to set, cut into bars or bite size pieces and then store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 1 week.

Freeze for up to 1 month.

Make it your own

There's nothing quite like giving a gift that you've made. These days it's easier because there are so many bits and pieces you can buy, inexpensively, to make it special.

The foil trays are by a company caalled Queen of Cakes via Amazon and measure 7” x 4.5” in old money or if you prefer 18cms x 11.5cms. The cellophane bags came from Lakeland Plastics and the Easter “pegs” came from Home Bargains, as did the tiny Easter buckets.

Design your own Rocky Road

Traditionally Rocky Road is made using Brazil nuts,

glacé cherries and marshmallow.

Rules are meant to be broken - take a look at the

list below and if you'd like to design your own

Rocky Road swap any or all of the three

ingredients in the original recipe for the

same weight

(or may be four if you want to stay true

to Rocky Road and include the mini marshmallows)

Cashew

Peanut

Pistachio

Pecan

Hazelnut

Glacé cherry

Dried sour cherries

Cranberry

Apricot

Banana chips

Pineapple

Sultanas

Nougat

Turkish Delight

Fudge

Toblerone

Praline

Salted Caramel

Mini Marshmallow

Popping Candy

My latest versions are :

Pecans with dark cherries and vanilla fudge

Pistachios, apricots and Turkish Delight

Chocolate Bark

Kit required

Baking sheet 30cm x 18cm approximately

A handful of chopped dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots and toasted, roughly chopped hazelnuts. I appreciate that sizes of hand vary! As a rough guide 30g.

Line a baking sheet with cling film. You will find the cling film easier to control if you oil the baking sheet.

Break 300g of dark or milk chocolate into pieces and put in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and melt. When the chocolate has melted pour it onto the cling film lined sheet, spreading evenly – I use a spatula.

Scatter the fruit and nuts over the chocolate - gently pushing in any that need a little help – if you aren't confident with a finger tip then use a small round bladed knife as illustrated.

Leave to set for 4 hours – remove from the sheet and peel off the cling film. Cut the chocolate and fruit into diagonal chards using a large chefs knife - place in a cellophane bag and “peg” to finish.

You can use any combination of fruit and nuts to suit your taste.

Happy Easter and I hope you enjoy the chocolate treats!