Most of these weights are either a whole or half packet – don’t be too fussy. You just need to make sure you have enough chocolate to cover all of your fillings!

Ingredients:

• 125g of Arnott’s Scotch Finger biscuits
• 125g of Marshmallows
• 180g of Cadbury Fry’s Turkish Delight (I buy a share pack)
• 750g of milk cooking chocolate (although I’m sure dark or white would work fine too!)

Method:

In a bowl, break the biscuits into sixths, the marshmallows into halves (if you’re using the large size – mini marshmallows can be used whole) and the Turkish delight pieces into halves too. This job is much easier with a helper, so if you have a willing child or a partner who you can trust won’t eat all of the fillings before they make it into the rocky road, now’s the time to use them.

Once your fillings are ready, it’s time to melt the chocolate. You can do this in one of two ways:

(1) Put some water in a pot and place this over low-medium heat. Fill a bowl with your cooking chocolate pieces, and place this bowl on top of the pot (make sure it’s heat resistant – a metal bowl works best for this method). The secondary heat from the simmering water will heat your chocolate. Make sure you stir constantly so that it doesn’t burn – burnt chocolate is impossible to rescue!

(2) Fill a bowl with your cooking chocolate pieces and place it in the microwave (make sure it’s a microwave safe bowl for this method). Nuke it for 30 seconds, and then stir. Then nuke for 10 second intervals, stirring inbetween each. It may sound like a painfully slow process, but I reiterate: burnt chocolate is impossible to rescue!

As soon as the chocolate is entirely melted, place all of your broken filling ingredients into the bowl. Coat them in chocolate and then pour the mixture into a lined slice tray. Refrigerate for about an hour before cutting into pieces. This mixture should make approximately sixteen servings. Enjoy!

Brisbane writer, Alison Mather, makes this delicious self-saucing pudding from the Donna Hay Magazine Issue 8 and shares her delight!  Alison says, ‘Couldn’t be easier to make for a huge pay-off.’

Method:

3/4 cup brown sugar

80 g butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 milk

Sauce:

 1 cup boiling water

2/3 cup brown sugar, extra

1/4 cup golden syrup

1 1/2 tsp plain flour, extra

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 F). For the puddings, beat the sugar, butter and vanilla with an electric mixer for 5 mins or until light and creamy. Add the egg and beat until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, and milk and beat until combined. Spoon into 4 x 1 cup capacity greased ovenproof dishes and place on a baking tray.

For the sauce, whisk together the water, sugar, golden syrup, and extra flour. Spoon sauce over puddings. Bake for 35 mins or until golden brown an set.

(I would also add here: squeal with delight as the puddings rise up through the sauce in little puffy domes!)

 Enjoy ’em!

 Alison

This one is a kid-special, though I’m pretty sure grown-ups will like it too–especially those in need of a sugar-hit. Seriously smooth chocolate fudge filled with marshmallows, gummy bears and sprinkled with popping-candy to top it off. Perfect for children’s parties, or, just because…

What You Need:

Fudge:

400g milk chocolate, chopped

50g butter, cubed

385ml can of condensed milk

Filling:

Popping candy

Gummy Bears

Marshmallows – I chopped mine into about four pieces each

How it’s Done:

Start by preparing a slice tin by greasing and lining with greaseproof paper. My tin is about 18cm square. Place about a cup (or handful) of Gummy Bears and chopped marshmallows into the bottom of the tin randomly. Now, it’s fudge time.

I’ve blogged about this fudge recipe a couple of times before. It’s ridiculously simple. Just add your butter and condensed milk to a small saucepan, and stir constantly over a medium heat until the butter has melted completely. Add chocolate and continue to stir vigorously until it all comes together. Working quickly, add the fudge mixture to your prepared tin, directly over the top of the Gummy Bears and marshmallow. Add a few extra Gummy Bears on top, then sprinkle with Popping Candy. Place the slice tin into the fridge for about an hour.

And that’s it! Told you it was too easy.

Brisbane author, Alayna Cole, shares her Chocolate Mug-cake recipe with us. Good for a cold winter evening!

• 4 tbls plain flour
• 4 tbls caster sugar
• 2 tbls cocoa powder
• 1/4 tbls baking powder
• dash of vanilla essence
• 3 tbls oil (I use olive, but vegetable or whatever would work fine)
• 2 tbls water
• 1 egg.

Combine all in a mug. Whisking with a fork helps get all the powder up from the bottom and smooths any lumps.

 Microwave for 1min – 1.5min. It depends on your microwave. Start low, and if it’s too soft in the middle, work your way up next time – you don’t want to overcook it!

What goes with winter? Open fires, cosy rooms, woollen coats, and chocolate. Always with the chocolate. Hot chocolate to be specific. I’m not a coffee drinker (anymore …wahhh!) and although I don’t mind the occasional herbal tea, my blood-warming drink of choice is hot chocolate. Day to day, I devour a sugar-free brand but for something special – there’s these. The real deal. Chocolate spoons. Simply add to warm milk…

What You Need:

• Spoons. While you can use and re-use your finest silver, I bought a pack of cute mini-faux-silver spoons from one of those Super-Cheap shops – 50 spoons for $2. Bargain.
• Chocolate. As always, the better the quality, the better the result will taste. For dark chocolate in particular, try using one that is at least 75% cocoa. You’ll thank me for it later.
• Flavours: try adding mini marshmallows, chopped Jersey Caramels, cinnamon or chilli. Be adventurous! Try sea salt flakes (on dark choc) or raspberry dust* (recipe below) My one word of advice is this – think about who you’re making these for. Kids or adults? For my children, I’m more likely to make them with marshmallows, for myself – chilli or raspberry.
• A chocolate mould. Make sure it’s deep enough to fit a spoon. I used a mini-muffin silicone mould.

How it’s Done:

Make sure your mould is clean and dry. Melt chocolate in a cup in the microwave, or in a double boiler over the stove. Spoon melted chocolate into moulds, tapping gently to get rid of any air bubbles. Add the spoon and flavours before chocolate sets completely. Leave for at least twenty to thirty minutes, pop out of mould gently.

To Serve:

Heat milk in either a saucepan over low heat – don’t let it quite come to the boil – or in the microwave. Serve in a large cup or mug, add chocolate spoon and stir until chocolate has dissolved. Yummo! Chocolate spoons are also great bunched together and tied with ribbon for a simple gift idea. Try finding delicate vintage spoons at your local second hand shop or market, playing around with mould shapes and sizes…the ideas are endless.

*Raspberry Dust Recipe

A handful of fresh raspberries, washed, dried and thrown into the dehydrator for about 5 hours on high. They won’t develop a crunchy texture, more like a fruit leather.

Once dried, place the fruit into a snap lock bag, and into the freezer. Once frozen – but still in the bag – smash gently with the back of a knife of small hammer.

Voila! Raspberry Dust!

Store in an airtight container in the pantry. Use sprinkled on ice cream, meringues, biscuits or even warm Camembert cheese.