no-bake – Dandy Bakes

When I was a child, we had an Easter tradition. Every year we would crush Shredded Wheat, mix it with melted chocolate and form it into nests. They were finished off with mini chocolate eggs and taken into primary school, where they were always received well.

Now, sadly, I can’t eat cocoa or wheat (shredded or otherwise). I can, however, eat white chocolate, and I think the colour looks so bright and springlike.

The textures of this rocky road are provided by crispy puffed rice, chunks of crumbly shortbread, and cubes of hot cross bun. If you’re disappointed by the lack of marshmallows in this recipe, then by all means put some into yours.

This recipe is definitely for those with a sweet tooth, so I’d recommend cutting it into dainty cubes. This would be a nice project to do with children; they’ll be entranced by the melted chocolate, and they’ll love the mixing and decorating.

To decorate, I used pastel sugar sprinkles and white chocolate eggs. Feel free to deviate! The shops are full with so many gorgeous Easter treats to use.

This quick, no-bake treat is also suitable for freezing! Why not make some this weekend and freeze them, ready for the big day (If you can wait that long!)

Easter Rocky Road

1 gluten-free hot cross bun

100g gluten-free shortbread

15g gluten-free puffed rice

405g white chocolate

Decorations

Cut the hot cross bun into small cubes and set aside.
Cut the shortbread into big chunks.
Measure out the rice and set aside.
Break all the chocolate. Place two thirds of it into a bowl set over a pot of water. Gnetly heat the pot to melt the chocolate, making sure to stir and watch it carefully.
Once the chocolate’s melted, add in the shortbread, rice and bun pieces. Stir to combine then press into a 20cm square pan (lined with baking paper).
Melt the final third of the chocolate. This will be poured over the top of the rocky road to make the surface smoother.
Once the chocolate has been poured and spread on top, the surface of the rocky road should look even and ready for decorating. Place your decorations on before the chocolate sets. When you’re happy, place in the fridge and leave to chill for about an hour.
Once it’s set, cut into small chunks and enjoy!

Like a lot of people, I love food that combines sweet and salty flavours. Sweet and salty popcorn, salted caramel, anything of that nature. But I’ve got to say, it’s hard to get right.

I’m sure we’ve all bought some salted caramel treat, for instance (chocolate, ice cream etc.) and thought…I can’t really taste the salt. That’s why I think it has to be added to desserts carefully, so that it can spark off the other flavours as intended. In my Salty Dog biscuits, for instance, the little sprinkling of salt on the top is a great foil to the citrus flavours of the biscuit.

For my latest bake (or non-bake), I decided to combine some salty snacks with a classic marshmallow crispy rice treat. I was worried that the texture of the treat would become homogenously crispy but no- the puffed rice has a little chew to it, the pretzels are crisp and the peanuts are chunky. The saltiness is located within the pretzels and peanuts, so that you get bursts of saltiness instead of an overall salty flavour.

I cut the treats into small chunks as I expected them to be sickly sweet, but they turned out milder than I expected. I used gluten-free puffed rice without any added sugar, so perhaps that’s why. If you like your treats sweeter then use sweetened puffed rice, or perhaps drizzle these with some melted chocolate.

Texturally, these treats are unique and moreish. I think they’d be great as an alternative snack for a movie night or a football game. As you can see, this recipe filled up two small pans; halve the recipe if needed.

‘Bar snack’ crispy treats

200g marshmallows

1 and 1/2 tbsps butter

150g gluten-free puffed rice

100g salted peanuts

100g gluten-free pretzels

Prepare two small pans with baking paper.
Chop the pretzels (not too much).
Melt the marshmallows with the butter over a medium heat until liquified.
Add the marshmallow mixture to the other ingredients and stir well.
Press into the pans and put into the fridge for a few hours. Once chilled, slice them into however many pieces you desire. A bit of oil on the knife might help, I used coconut oil.
Keep them in the fridge or freeze them!

Tag: no-bake

Easter Rocky Road

‘Bar snack’ no-bake crispy treats