Nine delicious recipes to try on World Chocolate Day

These mouth-watering chocolate recipes are the perfect treat for today (Waitrose)

TODAY marks World Chocolate Day, and have we got some celebratory treats for you…

These delicious recipes, courtesy of Waitrose, all have a chocolatey theme to them – ideal for today!

For more baking recipes, visit waitrose.com/baking

Sea salt fudge brownies

The perfect pick-me-up with coffee, these moist, gooey brownies are dotted with chunks of creamy sea-salt fudge.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes to 30 minutes
Makes: 24

Ingredients

180g Hope & Greenwood handmade salt caramel fudge or other fudge
250g Waitrose Continental Plain Chocolate, chopped
175g unsalted butter
3 eggs
225g light muscovado sugar
75g self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
100g roasted, salted large peanuts, chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C, gas mark 5. Grease and line a 27 x 18cm shallow baking tin with baking parchment. Cut the fudge roughly into 1cm cubes.
Put the chocolate and butter in a bowl and melt, either using the microwave on medium power for 2-3 minutes or by resting the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Stir to make a smooth sauce.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick, smooth and beginning to froth. Stir in the slightly cooled melted chocolate mixture, then the flour and baking powder.
Lightly stir in half the fudge and nuts and turn into the tin, spreading into the corners. Scatter with remaining fudge and nuts. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until a sugary crust has formed but the mixture feels wobbly underneath. (Check the brownies frequently towards the end of cooking as the flavour and texture are better if moist and gooey. Don’t forget that both the chocolate and butter will firm up as the cake cools.) Leave to cool completely in the tin.
Lift out of the tin and cut into 24 small squares.

No bake chocolate cheesecake

Vegetarian
Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus cooling and chilling
Cooking time:10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes, plus cooling and chilling
Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

400g Philadelphia soft cheese
100g caster sugar
60g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra to grease
180g ginger nut biscuits
225g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
200ml double cream
50g white chocolate, roughly chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Beat together the soft cheese and sugar and set aside to come to room temperature. Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm springform cake tin. Seal the biscuits in a food bag and bash with a rolling pin to crumbs, then stir into the melted butter. Press into the base of the tin and bake for 5-10 minutes, until crisp; set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Set aside until quite cool but still liquid. Whisk the cream to soft peaks, then fold in the cooled chocolate. Fold in the cheese mix, then spoon on top of the biscuit base and chill for at least 2 hours.

3. Carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin. Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Drizzle over the top of the cheesecake and chill briefly to set.

Mint Chocolate Tart

Preparation time:15 minutes, plus 2 hours chilling
Serves: 8 – 10

Ingredients

200ml Waitrose Extra Thick Double Cream

25g unsalted butter

200g Waitrose

Chocolate Mint Thins, roughly chopped

1 tbsp whole milk

205g Waitrose

Sweet Pastry Case

Method

1. Put the cream in a small saucepan and gently heat until just below boiling. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter and chocolates until smooth. Add the milk and stir well to combine. Pour into the pastry case and allow to cool. Chill for 2 hours in the fridge.

2. If liked, dust with icing sugar and/or cocoa powder, decorate with fresh mint leaves and serve with cream, if liked.

Raspberry & chocolate ice cream layer

Preparation time: 40 minutes, plus freezing
Cooking time: 2 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes to 42 minutes
Serves: 8

Ingredients

300g raspberries
100g icing sugar, plus 3 tbsp
100g Waitrose Continental Plain Chocolate, broken into pieces
2 x 300ml tubs whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
100g blanched hazelnuts, chopped and toasted

Method

1. Dampen a 1kg loaf tin or one with a capacity of at least 1.3 litres. Line with clingfilm, making sure it fits neatly into the corners and comes right up the sides. Put the raspberries in a bowl with the 3 tbsp icing sugar and mash together until the raspberries are crushed to a thick purée. Put all but 15g of the chocolate in a bowl and melt, either in short spurts in the microwave or by resting the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Reserve the remaining chocolate for decoration.

2. Put 450ml of the whipping cream, 75g of the icing sugar and the vanilla in a separate bowl. Whisk with an electric whisk until the mixture forms peaks that maintain their shape when the whisk is lifted from the bowl. Tip the raspberries into a sieve over the cream and let the juices drip through. Lift away when they stop. Stir the juice into the cream.

3. Set aside 2 tbsp of the hazelnuts for decoration. Spread a thin layer of the cream mixture over the base of the loaf tin. Use a teaspoon to scribble about a third of the melted chocolate back and forth over the cream. Scatter with a third of the hazelnuts and a third of the raspberries (spread the raspberries as thinly as you can so they’re not in large clusters). Spoon a third of the cream on top then half the melted chocolate, hazelnuts and raspberries. Repeat layering so that you finish with a layer of cream mixture. Cover loosely and freeze for at least 3 hours.

4. Whisk together the remaining 150ml cream and sugar until peaking. Put in a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. (If you don’t have a bag and nozzle, leave the mixture in the bowl ready for spreading.)

5. Invert the ice cream onto a flat plate and lift away the tin and clingfilm. If the tin doesn’t come away easily, wipe a hot dish cloth over it so it’s released. Pipe or spread the cream over the top and scatter with the reserved nuts. Melt the remaining chocolate and drizzle lines over the top. Freeze, without covering, until ready to serve.

6. Transfer to the fridge 30 minutes before serving.

Cook’s tip

For a more child-friendly version of this dessert, you might want to use milk chocolate instead of the plain.

Rocky road ice cream bars

Vegetarian
Preparation time: 10 minutes + 2 hours freezing time or overnight
Cooking time: 0
Total time: 2 hours 10 minutes or overnight
Serves: 12

Ingredients

25g Cooks’ Ingredients
Mini Marshmallows
4 x 38g tubes Smarties
114g Cadbury Milk Chocolate Fingers, snapped into short pieces
1 litre Waitrose Chocolate Dairy
Ice Cream

Method

1. Line the base of a 20cm x 20cm brownie tin with parchment.

2. Place the mini marshmallows, Smarties and chocolate fingers in a large bowl. Using a large knife, roughly dice the ice cream and add to the bowl. Mix well together then spoon into the tin and pat down to fill all the corners. Cover loosely with clingfilm and put in the freezer for at least 2 hours, or ideally overnight.

3. Turn out the rocky road ice cream, cut into 12 bars and serve.

Wrap any spare, unmelted, bars in clingfilm and freeze as individual portions, ready for any occasion.

Chocolate honeycomb fridge cake

Children will love putting their own spin on this chocolatey pudding. Get them involved in mixing the cake and see what else they might like to add to the recipe, including some ideas from our cook’s tip, below.

Vegetarian
Preparation time:15 minutes + chilling
Total time:15 minutes + chilling
Serves: 12

Ingredients

2 x 100g bars Montezuma’s Very Dark Organic Chocolate
50g Waitrose Duchy Organic English Salted Butter, diced
4 tbsp golden syrup
150g pack Waitrose Duchy Organic All Butter Shortbread, broken into small pieces
100g whole organic almonds, roughly chopped
45g pack Cooks’ Homebaking Honeycomb Niblets
150g Love Life Ready To Eat Organic Soft Dried Apricots, diced

Method

1. Break the chocolate into a small pan, then add the butter and syrup. Heat very gently, stirring from time to time, until smooth and glossy.

2. Place the shortbread in a large bowl and stir in the almonds, honeycomb and apricots. Pour in the chocolate mixture and stir until evenly coated.

3. Tip the mixture into a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin, patting down carefully to get it right into the corners. Chill for at least 2 hours until set. Slice into wedges to serve.

Cook’s tip

Mix things up by adding your favourite fruit, nuts or sweet treats. Try scattering pumpkin seeds over the top, dusting with freeze-dried raspberries, or stirring fudge chunks through before chilling.

White chocolate, pistachio & cranberry rocky road

Preparation time:15 minutes + 2 hours chilling
Total time:15 minutes + 2 hours chilling
Makes: 24 squares

Ingredients

450g white chocolate
125g digestive biscuits
75g pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
115g dried cranberries
75g mini marshmallows
25g desiccated coconut

Method

1. Break the white chocolate into chunks and place in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave the chocolate in 30 second bursts, making sure to stir well between each to avoid burning. When the chocolate is smooth with no lumps remaining, spoon 4 tablespoons into a piping bag and set aside for decoration.

2. Break the digestive biscuits into a large bowl and mix in 60g pistachios, 100g cranberries, the marshmallows and the coconut. Pour the remaining white chocolate over the top and mix gently until all of the dry mix is completely coated.

3. Line a 22cm square brownie tin with cling film and press the rocky road mixture into the tin, making sure to get it right into the corners. With the piping bag, drizzle the reserved white chocolate over the top, then sprinkle over the remaining pistachios and cranberries.

4. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before slicing with a sharp knife into approximately 24 even squares. This rocky road will keep for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.

Raspberry & white chocolate ginger cheesecake

Vegetarian
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes to 40 minutes
Total time:55 to 60 minutes + chilling
Serves: 8

Ingredients

125g Waitrose 1 Belgian Dark Chocolate & Ginger Biscuits, crushed with a rolling pin
35g unsalted butter, melted
400g full fat soft cheese
100g caster sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
4 Waitrose British Blacktail Free Range Eggs, medium, 2 whole and 2 yolks
100g Cooks’ Homebaking White Chocolate, broken into chunks
100ml double cream
100ml soured cream
300g fresh raspberries
White chocolate stars, to decorate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C, gas mark 3. Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted butter and press into the base of a 20cm greased and base-lined spring-form tin.

2. Beat together the soft cheese, sugar and lemon zest until smooth, then gradually beat in the whole eggs and 2 egg yolks.

3. Melt the chocolate with the double cream in a small pan over a very low heat, and stir until smooth. Cool, then fold into the cheese ingredients. Spoon the whole mixture into the tin, level the surface, then bake for 35-40 minutes until only just set. The top should still wobble a little when you shake the tin. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for a couple of hours, then chill for at least 2 hours, overnight if possible.

4. Carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin and place on a serving plate. Spread the soured cream over the surface and top with the raspberries. Scatter with white chocolate stars and serve.