Chocolate Crackle and Peanut Caramel Slice

Pirate Dreams
Posted on 04/30/2012 by cakecrumbs
Chocolate crackles have such a power over me. They're one of those food items that can reduce me to giggly fits of glee at the thought of making them. You're never too old to enjoy that simple treat, but this slice offers a way to deliver them with a little more class than usual. 



I've been waiting for the perfect excuse to make this. So when I threw a get together this weekend just gone these were the first thing on my list of party food. 



The slice starts off with a layer of chocolate shortbread.



Smother that in a peanutty caramel mixture.



Then cover with chocolate crackle truffles. Loooots of truffles.



I sprinkled them with more peanuts, sliced them up into 4-truffle sizes, decorated them with chocolate sticks and dusted with cocoa. 



But because this was party food, and was to be amongst many other desserts I decided to sacrifice prettiness for practicality. This is a very rich slice and should probably only be served as a large slice if having for dessert on its own. As a party food, they go further as single-truffle serves. 



The following recipe makes about 80 truffles. This is much more than you need, so fill free to make a bit less, but it's hard to say no to extra chocolate crackle truffles. Alternatively, you can skip the truffles and spread the chocolate crackle mixture over the caramel layer to create a third later.



Chocolate Crackle Slice

Ingredients

1 cup (150g) plain flour
1/4 cup (25g) cocoa
175g unsalted butter
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 x 380g cans Nestlé Top 'N' Fill (if you can't get this is it essentially a shortcut to boiling sweetened condensed milk)
2/3 cup (190g) smooth peanut butter
chocolate sticks, to decorate
1/3 cup (45g) roasted salted peanuts

Chocolate Crackle Truffles
1/2 cup (50g) cocoa
1 1/2 cups (240g) icing sugar
5 cups (175g) coco pops or rice bubbles
1 cup (250g) copha (vegetable shortening) melted
1 cup desiccated coconut

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a lamington/slice pan.
  2. Sift flour with cocoa. In a separate bowl, beat sugar, butter and salt until pale and fluffy. Gradually mix in flour mixture until mixture just comes together. Press evenly over base of pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until form. Cool. 
  3. Heat caramel and peanut butter in a saucepan until mixture boils; reduce heat and simmer for a further 2 minutes, or until mixture is smooth. Spread filling over shortbread base and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or until firm. 
  4. To make crackle truffles, combine all ingredients except copha in a bowl and toss until well mixed. Add copha and stir. Using wet hands, shape tablespoons of mixture into truffles. Refrigerate for 20 minutes, or until firm.
  5. Place truffles on top of filling in rows; cut into slices and decorate with chocolate sticks.  





x-posted @ Cakecrumbs
Leave a Comment
sweeny_todd 30th-Apr-2012 06:25 am (UTC)
uhhhh... I think I have to try that...
cakecrumbs 30th-Apr-2012 12:35 pm (UTC)
Definitely!
fancydressmasks 30th-Apr-2012 08:44 am (UTC)
My god, these look AMAZING.
cakecrumbs 30th-Apr-2012 12:36 pm (UTC)
Thanks xD
ejia_arath03 30th-Apr-2012 09:03 am (UTC)
Ooh, I've been doing the "boil a can of sweetened condensed milk" thing lately.

I don't think I could make this and not devour half of the crackles before they even make it to the shortbread!
cakecrumbs 30th-Apr-2012 12:39 pm (UTC)
It's such an easy way to make caramel! I used the top n fill this time cause I had days of party food prep ahead of me so any shortcut was welcomed haha.

As the recipe makes some 80 truffles (I went overboard) it's about twice as much as you need (pending on how big you make them and how big your pan is), you can get away with eating half of them and still have enough for the slice!

I totally thought I was going to devour them all too, but I had three and after a day of taste-testing food it was enough to put me into a food coma.
querulouspeg 30th-Apr-2012 10:34 am (UTC)
Honestly, joining this comm was one of the best things I have done. These look SO good. Nom.
phyllis7609 30th-Apr-2012 12:21 pm (UTC)
I agree to that comment. Before joining this community I baked every so often. Three years later after all these recipes, tips and all the inspiration from BBBers and I'm now doing it for money. I'm the cake and cookie girl now. :o)
cakecrumbs 30th-Apr-2012 12:41 pm (UTC)
I felt the exact same way when I joined the comm a few years back! Everyone here is so inspiring and posts such drool-worthy food.

Thanks for your lovely words! :)
cakecrumbs 1st-May-2012 05:20 am (UTC)
Lovely idea! This is such a quick dessert to make as well, so perfect for making large batches for the masses.
suede 30th-Apr-2012 07:31 pm (UTC)
This is what I call food porn!
cakecrumbs 1st-May-2012 05:21 am (UTC)
Haha, thanks! :D I'm inclined to call anything involving chocolate crackles food porn, they're so yummy.
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