There are just so many things to consider when you’re five. Whether the dinner lady accidentally puts gravy on your lunch rendering it inedible, whether a nameless girl in year 6 will want to play Batman at breaktime or not, who you sit next to whilst painting an underwater scene. There’s a lot to consider, a lot to remember. So I almost never expect my five year old to remember anything administrative. If it’s not deemed essential information, it gets lost.
So I’m always surprised when the teachers entrust five year olds with information regarding bake sales, non uniform days, sponsored silences etc. Yet some information made it home this week, namely that there’s a bake sale and NOBODY LIKES CHERRIES. I don’t think this directive came from the teacher, more from my son, who incidentally loves a glacé cherry or 10. It’s just his friends who don’t apparently. So here’s a psychedelic rocky road without cherries or nuts, making them apparently okay to take to school. Just.
NB: Photography by Minal at Minal Photography.
NB: Please halve the ingredients if you don’t want or need 40 chunks of rocky road, though I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t.
One year ago: White chocolate & cranberry hot cross buns and Cadbury creme egg mess and Banoffee pecan mini pavs
Two years ago: Easter Apostles scone loaf and Carrot cake in a cup for Mother’s Day and Cranberry oaty biscuits
Three years ago: Mini chocolate birds nests and Puff pastry and Walnut bread
Rocky road
Makes a huge slab I chopped into 40 small pieces enough to send any 5 year old on a sugar high for 40 minutes or more
Ingredients:
- 300g chocolate, broken into pieces (I use dark, but whatever you fancy)
- 30mls milk
- 115g butter
- 300g broken biscuits (I used rich tea and digestives)
- 150g mini marshmallows
- 110g raisins
- 100g white chocolate chopped to about 1cm chunks, you could use chocolate chips instead which would be easier
For the topping:
- 400g dark chocolate
- 30mls vegetable oil
- 2 x 47g packs sugar stars (Mine were from Sainsburys, but any sprinkles will do)
This is so easy it’s perfect for school fair bake sales. You can whip it up the night before and leave at room temperature to set. A great recipe to have in your arsenal.
Melt the chocolate, milk and butter in a large saucepan on a very low heat. If you whack up the heat the chocolate will burn, beware! Remove from the heat and add the biscuits, broken into 2cm-ish pieces. Stir well and leave to cool for 5 minutes. The cooling part stops the chocolate melting the marshmallows so is important. In the meantime line a large tray (mine was 28cm x 32cm) with foil, as foil requires no tiresome cutting to fit the tray and reveals rocky road like a dream, without sticking or leaving paper residue.
Add the marshmallows, raisins and white chocolate to the biscuit mixture and stir well. Then tip into the foil lined tin and level carefully with a spoon. Leave to set for 20 minutes at room temperature. In the meantime melt the 400g chocolate for the topping with the vegetable oil, either in the microwave in 30 second blasts or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water, being careful not to let the bowl touch the water. Stir until molten then let set for 5 minutes in the bowl. Pour and spread carefully over the rocky road and then sprinkle with lots of psychedelic coloured stars. Leave to set at room temperature for an hour or overnight. Cut with a very sharp knife (you can dip it in boiling water for really smooth slices) then serve at a bake sale for circa 20p a slice. Ta da!
Holly Bell 