A nice big slab of rocky road

Well at least, that's how it started out, until it'd been cut into manageable chunks, piled up high, then steadily devoured. Shame to chunk it up, being as it's meant to be a rocky ROAD, but I think about an inch square is enough to enjoy without feeling guilty - so guilt-free that you could have several small chunks.

I used Nigella Lawson's basic recipe and my own assorted chunks - say what you like about the lady, but she certainly knows her rocky road. My adapted recipe is below.

Ingredients:

125 soft unsalted butter

200g milk chocolate, broken into pieces

100g good quality dark chocolate, broken into pieces

3tbsp golden syrup

200g rich tea biscuits

arbitrary amount of:

mini marshmallows

Mars Planets

Maltesers

50g white chocolate to decorate

Method

1. Heat the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a microwaveable bowl, in said microwave. Keep microwave on 80% power and do 30seconds at a time to avoid burning/over heating chocolate. When melted, scoop out around 125ml of the mixture and set aside.

2. Put the biscuits into a plastic freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin until you have some crumbs and some, er, rocks. Give your other crunchy ingredients a bit of a bashing in the same manner.

3. Fold it all into the mixture, along with any squishy ingredients you might've chosen to use (raisins, glacé cherries, dates etc.)

4. Line a baking tin (approx. 24cm/9in square) with foil and tip in the mixture. Pour over the reserved non-chunky mixture and smooth the top with a spatula.

5. Refrigerate for around two hours, or overnight.

6. To serve, melt your small amount of white chocolate and drizzle over the top however you please. It might need a little re-chilling after this, but the cold rocky road should set it fairly quickly. Cut into squares or fingers or rhombuses or whatever you choose, stack up on a plate, and feed housewarming guests.

Other variations include Nigella's Christmas rocky road, using gingernut biscuits and a higher proportion of dark chocolate for a more 'grown up' feel, adding nuts, only using marshmallows...as you will see if you Google "rocky road recipe", one of the joys of rocky road is that nearly anything goes and proportions are flexible. What could be easier?

The picture above and pictures of empty plates is all I have, so this will have to do, but I can guarantee yours will look tempting, no matter what you bung in.