Chocolate Sausage

I seem to be swimming in leftover ingredients at the moment, be it a handful of dried fruits, a few nuts or the dregs from a bag of sugar or a packet of butter. It's always good to have a few recipes for such occasion, particularly when they are as easy and as flexible as this one. There is no baking required, in fact for once your oven gets a break entirely, as to make this cheeky chocolate sausage is just a case of mixing a few basic ingredients, then letting your imagination take over as you decide what tasty nuggets to fold through at the end. As I mentioned above I've gone for a variety of nuts, along with some plump raisins and sweet, syrupy glacé cherries but when it comes to your own sausage the choice is yours...

Prep time: 25 Mins
Chilling time: 120 Mins
250g Digestive Biscuits
125g Unsalted Butter (Softened)
2.5tbsp Light Muscovado Sugar
2 Egg Yolks
50g Golden Syrup
1tsp Vanilla Extract
3tbsp Cocoa Powder

100g Glace Cherries (Chopped)
100g Raisins
75g Flaked Almonds
75g Pecans (Chopped)
75g Salted Peanuts

Begin by crushing the biscuits. Try to be as thorough in your pulverisation as you can, although it is fine if a few lumps of biscuits remain. In a separate large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar, then beat in the egg yolks, followed by the syrup and vanilla extract. Finally add the cocoa powder and mix to a creamy, chocolatey paste. Add the nuts and fruits, begin mixing with a wooden spoon then using your hands to combine the mixture entirely. Lay out a large sheet of foil on a flat service, then spoon the mixture lengthways along the middle. Wrap the mixture, making a large sausage and twist to secure each end. Squeeze your sausage (boom!) all around to compress the mixture inside, rolling the wrapped sausage on your surface until you are left with a firm cylinder. Place in the fridge for 2 hours to set.

To finish, unsheathe your sausage (double boom!) and slice with a sharp knife. I think this is a really fun one to serve after dinner with a blob of ice cream, as a party treat or on the side of a cup of leaf tea or coffee. It's really up to you, just like the ingredients!