#TasteofThursday chocolate holiday sausages recipe

chocolate holiday sausages

“This weird and perhaps not-so-attractive and yet festive novelty is a delight and you’d be crazy not to make some quickly !”

Of course, this isn’t my invention, this is an Italian and Portuguese holiday sweet, often called “chocolate salami” … I simply re-adapted my chocolate and biscuit blocks for the holiday season to include a mixture of nuts, dried fruits and candied fruit as well as holiday spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and the ginger. The principle is simple, I replaced the 200 grams of biscuits with an equal mix of 50 grams each of biscuits and all those fruity, nutty and sweet extras. I also replaced the heavy cream and syrup with butter because lowering the amount of biscuits means that the extra creamy liquid will not be absorbed by them, so butter was a better and firmer alternative for this drier and more compact version. Anyways, for 200 grams of chocolate, you use an equal amount (200 grams) of any mix of nuts, candied fruit, dried fruit and biscuits you have handy and spices that remind you of the holiday season and of course, good quality dark chocolate. The rolling is much easier than you think, the icing sugar coating is easy too, the tying with butcher’s twine is a little more complicated but will make others say “WOW”. I suggest doubling the recipe to make 4 long or 8 shorter versions as individual holiday gifts ! Happy Holidays to all … 🙂

Ingredients

makes 2 sausages (16-20 cm x 4 cm)

200 grams dark chocolate (70% cocoa minimum)

60 grams butter (1/4 cup)

50 grams speculoos cookies or other dry, crispy biscuits like ginger snaps or digestives or tea biscuits (about ½ cup broken up in smaller pieces)

50 grams dried fruit (about ¼ cup chopped – I used figs, apricots, cranberries)

50 grams nuts (about ¼ cup – I used roasted almonds, pistachios, walnuts)

50 grams candied fruit (about ¼ cup chopped – I used cherries, orange rind, ginger)

2 tbsp cognac or brandy or rhum

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon powder

¼ tsp nutmeg powder

¼ tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp powdered ginger

2-4 tbsp icing sugar (for sprinkling)

instructions

chop the dried fruits (if large) into 1 cm x 1 cm pieces and mix with cognac and vanilla extract and set aside

break up the cookies into smaller pieces and set aside

chop candied fruit into smaller pieces and set aside

grind and/or grate and/or crush the cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and set aside

in a double-boiler or bain-marie, melt the chocolate with the butter (both cut into smaller pieces) until melted and smooth

add the ground spices, dried fruits, nuts, candied fruit and cookies to the melted chocolate and mix with a wooden spoon until everything is well-coated and let cool 10 minutes

lay out 2 large pieces of cling wrap (about 30 cm long) and spoon chocolate mixture in a log shape on each piece

grab one side of the cling wrap and start tightly rolling the mixture into a log shape, about 15-20 cm long X 4 cm wide, even it out and pinch and twist the ends tightly too

note: to retain the sausage shape, use empty paper towel cardboard tubes and slip them inside and place in the freezer for 1-2 hours minimum

when very firm, unwrap the chocolate sausages, coat with icing sugar, brush excess off and tie with string to resemble traditional sausages and store in the refrigerator, wrapped in parchment paper and in an airtight bag

note : the desert is quick to make, even the rolling … tying is tricky but I used 2 short metal mini-skewers on each end and then tied the string to one end and created the twine loops and tied the string to the second end to finish it off …

let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before slicing into 1½ – 2 cm rounds/slices

note : I suggest doubling the recipe to make more chocolate sausages (even shorter ones) and freezing them in the cling wrap until needed; the icing sugar coating and tying could be completed later, as needed.

George TSAKLIDIS (or g-tsak the blogger)

I was born to Greek parents who love to cook and eat wholesome food (that’s just the way it is). After being raised in Montreal (with a brief stay in Greece as a baby) and followed by a return to Montreal and degrees in interior design and electrical engineering, came my first departure as a young adult to Ottawa for a final degree in industrial design (combining the aspects of the first two) and in the middle of that, pushed to go to Paris with a scholarship for that same degree and my first design award. After several years of design work, headhunters whisked me away to be a collaborator with the French Diplomatic Corps. I spend half of my time in a suit and tie, with a briefcase, the other half in pyjamas (yes, people do still wear them) in my kitchen, most often covered in flour … Being a do-it-yourselfer by nature and perhaps needing a new creative outlet, the icookstuff blog/website was born less than one year ago, on the suggestion of loved ones, who also shared a passion for cooking and food, and of course my friend’s encouragement and support, who also happened to be a web-developer and designer and who created the website. Did the world need another food blogger? Not really ! Did people need to get back in touch with cooking and everything homemade ? Perhaps, if time, personal schedules and routines permitted it. “Know what you eat” is my motto. The blog isn’t only about cooking stuff. It’s about experimenting with food, trying to eat in a more wholesome and understanding manner and using everything you can, while wasting nothing and quite often using and including stuff as ingredients that are often discarded. Am I obsessed with my blog? Yes and no. I don’t cook for the blog. I cook out of curiosity and appreciate everything that’s “made from scratch”. The blog also represents a need to put some order in my recipe scribblings, since I own no cookbooks (the former books on my library shelves have given way to cooking utensils). I realized that I also loved photographing everything, not just the final finished results, but the ingredients, process and steps too. The blog is about sharing and trying to create my own recipe inventory, to which I refer to often, which is proof that it was a good idea to start off with (at least for my own personal use). I hope that it’s the case for others too, like I’ve said many times before, I’m not a “chef” and I respectfully tip my hat to those who are, “I just COOK STUFF, so you can cook stuff too” … 🙂