If You Hate Holiday Baking, Make Chocolate Salami

Something about making a dessert that looks like fissile chunks of salted meat really works during the holiday season. This no-bake dessert is surprisingly light, rich in texture, and most of the time it takes to make is passive time in the refrigerator. Take a break from the oven and make chocolate salami for Santa.

Chocolate salami is a dessert of crushed biscuits and nuts coated in chocolate mixture, rolled up and sprinkled with powdered sugar. When sliced, nuts and biscuit pieces give the impression of a savory salami with bits of fat and meat distributed over the entire surface. Powdered sugar on the outside resembles the harmless white mold that coats the outside of some aged salami. Doesn’t this all sound delicious? You already ate real grease and mold during your first meal, so don’t worry about that now. This sweet version of your favorite sun-dried and savory flavor is a stunning mix of textures and is perfect for chocolate lovers.

There are many recipes out there, and that’s because once you’ve made your base chocolate mix, you can add just about anything you want to it. Most recipes start with a chocolate-heavy ratio of plain ganache , so instead of the usual 1:1 chocolate-cream mixture, you build a hard ganache with a 2:1 ratio. A drop of butter is melted into the mixture to give it even more stability after cooling, and you’re ready to add your toppings.

Most recipes include crushed crunchy biscuits and nuts to complete the jerky look, but you can use whatever you think would go well with chocolate. Crunchy biscuits add a welcome contrasting texture, but you can use leftover soft biscuits, crumbled blondies, dried fruit, or maraschino cherries. Some dried fruits or whole nuts may stick to the knife or break out of the salami, so you may need to change the knife depending on your ingredients. If a sharp chef’s knife doesn’t give you the cleanest cuts, try a serrated knife.

Assembling chocolate salami is easy. Crush or roughly chop your impurities; they should be about half an inch or less. Set them aside. Add the butter, cut into small pieces, into a wide bowl, and pour the chocolate chips on top. Heat the cream in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds or until steaming and pour the cream over the chocolate and butter. Let stand two minutes, then beat until smooth. If the chocolate mixture starts to set, blast it for ten seconds to loosen it up. Add the mixture to the chocolate mixture and stir to coat.

Pour this salami mixture onto a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Use the wrapper to shape it into a log shape and roll it up. Twist the ends to seal it. Refrigerate the salami for at least four hours or overnight to set. When you’re ready to cut it, unwrap the log and dust it liberally with powdered sugar with your hands. It should stick easily. Cut into half-inch slices and enjoy a cup of bitter espresso.

chocolate salami recipe

Ingredients:

  • 4.5 oz chocolate
  • 0.5 oz butter
  • 2.2 oz heavy cream
  • 3.8 oz crushed biscuits
  • 1 ounce chopped or chopped almonds
  • 1.5 ounces chopped pistachios
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt

Add butter and chocolate to a bowl. Heat cream until steaming and pour over butter and chocolate. Let stand two minutes, then beat until smooth. Pour the last four ingredients into the chocolate mixture and stir to coat completely.

Pour the mixture onto a piece of parchment, waxed paper, or plastic wrap. Use a wrapper to cover it and roll the mixture into a log. Twist the ends to seal it. Refrigerate chocolate salami for at least four hours, or up to a week if sealed in an airtight container. When you’re ready to cut, unwrap the salami and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve on a cutting board cut into half-inch rounds.

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