My aunty was a keen cook but her speciality was desserts and cakes; to be honest her other dishes were a little bland as she didn’t like seasoning, onions, garlic, and many spices. Her puddings however were always spectacular, with lots of everything delicious, fruit, nuts, cream, chocolate – lots of chocolate. So when it was Christmas party time she really went to town, with more than even the most dedicated gourmand could enjoy. I am not a great one for sweet things for the most part, but something she made which I really enjoyed was her Italian chocolate slices. She would make them well in advance of the party and freeze them; one year we forgot to take them out in time, and I had t dive into the freezer as all the family milled about. They went straight onto the table, frozen, and I have to say they were even better like that!
here they are – I have shared the recipe before, but you may not want to trawl through all my food stories:
Italian chocolate slices
- ½ milk chocolate
- 2 oz magarine
- 4 oz castor sugar
- 1 egg
- 4 oz desiccated coconut
- 2 oz chopped glacé cherries
- 2 oz sultanas or currants
- melt chocolate in a bowl over hot water and spread on a greased Swiss roll tin and leave to set
- cream sugar and margarine and gradually add all the other ingredients
- spread over the chocolate, and bake at gas mark 2, 160°C, 325°F, for about 35 mins
- mark into slices while still warm and cut when cold
Lois Elsden 