Marbled ginger bars

This is one of the most popular no-cook bars that we serve in Cocoa Central, our café at Chococo HQ. It is my adaptation of an old family recipe and reminds me of helping my mum make chocolate treats for Christmas. It won us a 2-star Gold Great Taste Award in 2008 and remains a bestseller.


Ingredients

• 6 oz. old-fashioned gingersnaps (about 25 small cookies)
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 7 oz. dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
• 1 tablespoon superfine sugar
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup or corn syrup
• 1⁄3 cup chopped crystalized ginger

Topping

• 7 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
• 2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped 

Directions
1 Crush the cookies into small pieces. The easiest way to do this is to put them in a polythene bag and bash with a rolling pin, but not too much as you do want pieces not crumbs.

2 Put the butter, dark chocolate, sugar, and syrup in a large heavy-based saucepan and set over low heat. Let melt, stirring continuously.

3 Take off the heat, add the crushed cookies and ginger and mix well until everything is coated in the chocolate mixture. Pour the mixture into an 11 x 7-inch jelly roll pan or a 9-inch square brownie pan, lined with foil, and transfer to the fridge to set.

4 To make the topping, seed temper the dark chocolate. Pour the chocolate over the chilled mixture, spreading it over the surface with a metal spatula. Return to the fridge to set before decorating.

5 To decorate, melt the semi-sweet chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. When just melted remove the bowl from the heat. Dip the tines of a fork into the melted chocolate and holding it above the pan, move it backwards and forwards to drizzle the chocolate in a random pattern over the top of the bars. Return to the fridge to set the semi-sweet chocolate and then cut into bars with a hot serrated knife.

Note: The bars will keep stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Makes 12 bars or 24 mini bites.

Variation: To make Original Marbled Bars, simply follow the main recipe above, replacing the ginger cookies with graham crackers, or similar, and using 1-1⁄4 cup raisins or a mixture of any chopped dried fruits and nuts instead of the crystalized ginger. To top, follow the main recipe.

---

BUY THIS BOOK
Excerpted from Chococo Chocolate Cookbook, Copyright © 2011 by Claire Burnet. Photography Copyright © 2011 by Jonathan Gregson. Excerpted by permission of Ryland Peters & Small. All rights reserved.

Read more in Food & Entertaining and Recipes