Chocolate Salame; a fun and easy dessert centrepiece made from creamy chocolate, crunchy biscuits and toasted nuts.
[recipe originally posted in 2022]
A slice of chocolate sausage may not be your idea of a treat, but today I’m here to convince you otherwise.
Fear not, this Chocolate Salame doesn’t actually contain the cured meat, dried garlic, or melting pockets of fat that a regular Italian salame does. Instead, you’re in for a mouthful of creamy chocolate, crisp biscuit pieces, and crunchy chopped nuts.
The Chocolate Salame (or Salame al Cioccolato) is a snack or dessert known throughout Italy, and also believed to have origins in Portugal. The treat is famously shaped, sliced, and eaten just like a cured sausage would be. It’s even common to dust them in icing sugar and wrap them in twine for an even more realistic appearance. Maybe best not to put any on your pizza, but you’re a grown-up, I won’t judge.
Naturally, there are many variations on a recipe like this. The type of chocolate, biscuits, nuts, and other inclusions can change drastically from one recipe to another. Some even add a dash of almond, hazelnut, or coffee liqueur for extra flavour. The Chocolate Salame you see before you is the third version of a recipe I whipped together.
Originally, I had opted for an even blend of milk and dark chocolate with a few spoonfuls of cream. This was accompanied by broken Lotus biscuits and chopped hazelnuts. It was good, but it wasn’t great upon tasting it. A bit too sweet and, generally, something wasn’t quite right.
I then made one with entirely dark chocolate, some vanilla biscuits for a milder flavour, and swapped the cream for a fresh egg yolk as traditional recipes call for. Good, definitely good enough to share and to remake. However, I couldn’t carry this name of this blog forwards without tweaking things every now and again to account for needs and tastes.
The recipe I’m sharing now is, in my obviously unbiased opinion, even better. It uses slightly more dark chocolate, not for any reduced sweetness but rather for a slightly bolder chocolate flavour. The hazelnuts and biscuits remained the same, as they are never a bad idea. However, in place of the typical egg yolk (or previously used cream) I just lobbed in a fat spoonful of Nutella. Let me tell you, worth it.
The result was a much tastier, more balanced, and extra chocolatey Chocolate Salame.
In fact, feel free to play around with the biscuits, nuts and chocolate you use. This recipe is perfectly customisable depending on your flavour preferences. As long as the quantities don’t change, it should still turn out right!
How about milk chocolate, cocoa biscuits, and pistachios? How about dark chocolate, spiced biscuits, and almonds? How about milk chocolate, ginger biscuits, and walnuts?
How about trying this Ultra Thick Italian Hot Chocolate as another mediterranean winter treat
You’ll get a generously sized Chocolate Salame from this recipe, with 10-20 slices in total, depending on chunky you make them. Otherwise you can halve the quantities just to make a smaller one if you prefer!
While you’ll need a wee bit of heat to melt your chocolate, this is a totally no-bake treat. No fancy equipment or strenuous effort required either. You can whip up your Salame in just a few minutes (and allow a couple of hours’ patience while it sets). Even better, it keeps for days in the fridge, wrapped or not. A Chocolate Salame could even be a great gift over the festive period.
I hope you enjoy this weird but wonderful chocolate sausage as much as we have!
Want to save this Chocolate Salame for later? You can pin the image below:
To make this Chocolate Salame, simply follow the recipe below!
Ingredients
- 125g (4 ½ oz) dark chocolate (at least 50% cocoa solids)
- 65g (4 ½ tbsp) soft salted butter
- 2 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for decoration
- 1 rounded tbsp Nutella (or a fresh egg yolk)
- 100g (3 ½ oz) plain or chocolate biscuits
- 50g (generous ½ cup) whole hazelnuts (you can also use almonds or pistachios)
Instructions
- In a heatproof bowl, weigh out your chocolate.
- Melt the chocolate gently, either in a microwave in 30-second bursts or over a pan of simmering water, until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a separate bowl, beat together your butter and sugar until pale and creamy.
- Beat in your Nutella (or egg yolk, if using) until smooth.
- Chop the biscuits and nuts into small pieces. They should be large enough to add a bit of texture, but small enough to slice through easily!
- Stir the nuts, biscuits, and melted chocolate into the bowl of butter mixture. Stir well to combine into a lumpy chocolate stuff.
- Lay out a large sheet of clingfilm.
- Spoon your chocolate salame mixture out in a line on the clingfilm. It can be as fat and short, or as long and slim, as you like.
- Roll your clingfilm tightly over the mixture and twist the edges closed. Roll the salame back and forth until it resembles a big chocolate log, tightly concealed.
- Place the salame into the fridge to set for at least 2 hours.
- Unwrap the salame, dust and rub it over generously with icing sugar. Allow it to rest for at least 15 minutes out of the fridge before slicing for best results.
- Slice and enjoy!
BE A MAVERICK: use whatever kind of chocolate, biscuits, and nuts you like – you could even add a dash of liqueur!
This Chocolate Salame will keep well in the fridge for up to 5 days, but is best enjoyed fresh.
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So excited to try this! I always get it on holiday with my sister. Love your videos Kelly :))