Kekszszalámi

Ingredients

• 8¾ ozplain biscuitscoarsely crushed or ground; sponge fingers as an alternative
• 5 ozbuttermelted or creamed
• 8¾ ozdark chocolatemelted into the mixture or used as a coating
• 3½ ozpowdered sugarfor sweetening the mixture and dusting the roll
• 2 tbsprumrum flavouring as an alternative
• 3½ ozraisinslarge raisins, briefly soaked
• 2¾ oznutswalnuts or cashews, coarsely chopped
• 5¼ ozdried fruitmixed dried fruit or cranberries, coarsely chopped
• ½ cupMilkloosens the chocolate mixture (optional)
• 1Eggbeaten raw with butter and powdered sugar (optional)
• 1lemonjuice and grated zest (optional)

Method

1. Put the plain biscuits in a freezer bag and crush them with a rolling pin, or grind them coarsely; sponge fingers work just as well here.
2. Chop the nuts coarsely. Pour hot water over the raisins and dried fruit, let them soak briefly, drain them well and chop them roughly.
3. Melt the dark chocolate with the butter over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave, then stir in the milk and the rum until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
4. Add the biscuit crumbs, nuts, raisins and dried fruit to the chocolate mixture and knead everything thoroughly into a mass you can shape; sweeten to taste with powdered sugar.
5. Tip the mixture onto baking paper or cling film and shape it into a log about 5 cm thick, then wrap it tightly and twist the ends like a sweet wrapper.
6. Chill the roll in the fridge for at least 3 hours, until it is properly firm.
7. Unwrap the firm roll, dust it generously with powdered sugar all over and brush off the excess.
8. Cut the Kekszszalámi into slices and serve.

Tips and variations

The chocolate can either be worked into the mixture with butter and milk, or used only as a coating on the outside. Instead of melted chocolate you can bind the mixture with butter, powdered sugar and a raw egg beaten until light, seasoned with lemon juice, grated lemon zest and rum. There's even a version with no chocolate at all: just mixed dried fruit, raisins, walnuts and crumbled sponge fingers. Ground seeds or kernels stirred through add more bite, and rum flavouring stands in nicely if you'd rather skip the alcohol. Slice it thinly straight from the fridge and serve with coffee or tea.