Giuseppe Dell’Anno’s chocolate salami recipe

“An Italian staple of the Seventies, the iconic salame di cioccolato is still a very popular treat today,” says Giuseppe Dell’Anno, who won The Great British Bake Off in 2021.

“As it is super-easy to make and requires no baking, it is the perfect venture to entertain the kids on a rainy afternoon. The basic recipe includes just Rich Tea biscuits, but it can be made with whatever you may have in your cupboard: it works extremely well with digestive biscuits or, if you like the combination, with ginger nuts.

“I have enriched mine with toasted hazelnuts and pistachios, to give it extra crunch, but you can experiment with more exotic additions, such as dried apricots or, if you like it, crystallised ginger.”

Salame di cioccolato – chocolate salami

Ingredients:
(Makes up to 12 slices)

60g egg (about 1 large egg)
40g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla bean paste
⅛tsp salt
90g dark chocolate chips, or bar broken into small pieces (70–75% cocoa solids)
60g milk chocolate chips, or bar broken into small pieces (30–35% cocoa solids)
30g unsalted butter
30g Strega liqueur or dark rum
60g Rich Tea biscuits or other light, crisp sweet variety
30g unsalted pistachios
30g toasted chopped hazelnuts
About 50g icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

1. Put the egg, sugar, vanilla and salt in a small bowl then beat lightly with a fork or a whisk just to combine the ingredients. Set aside.

2. Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl (preferably metal), large enough to accommodate all the ingredients. Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, ensuring that the water does not reach the bottom of the bowl. Stir with a silicone spatula until the chocolate has completely melted and it has incorporated the butter. Lower the heat to the minimum and pour the egg mixture into the melted chocolate. Keep stirring continuously over a minimum heat for about five minutes. Remove from the heat, allow to cool for five minutes, then stir in the liqueur. Line the surface of the mixture with cling film and chill in the fridge for about one hour, or until the mixture has thickened up enough to be shaped.

3. Meanwhile, roughly break the biscuits by hand into chunks, more or less two centimetres each. Lay a large (about 40-centimetre square) sheet of baking paper on the worktop.

4. Take the chocolate mixture out of the fridge, add the broken biscuits, pistachios and hazelnuts, and stir gently until well combined. Turn out the mixture onto the baking paper and roll the sheet over the mixture to shape it into a large sausage, about five centimetres thick and 25 centimetres long, then secure it by twisting the ends of the paper.

5. Chill in the fridge for at least five hours, ideally overnight. When ready to serve, unwrap the salami and keep it on its baking paper. Dust it generously with icing sugar, roll it onto the baking paper and spread the sugar on it with your hands until thoroughly coated. Serve chilled, sliced on a chopping board. Salame di cioccolato keeps for up to a week in the fridge and can be frozen for up to a month.

Giuseppe’s Easy Bakes by Giuseppe Dell’Anno is published by Quadrille, priced £24. Photography by Matt Russell. Available now.