How to make chocolate salami

This is not something I dreamed up, okay.

Salame di cioccolato, or chocolate salami, is a traditional sweet in Tuscany. Whatever possessed me to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon producing such a thing, I do not know.

Nor would I encourage any of you to guess.

You can make this with any combination of ingredients. The traditional Tuscan way is to simply use plain dry cookies as a filling, but I went in another direction: In addition to the chocolate, milk and cookies I added rum, almonds, dried figs and my homemade candied orange peel.

Melt the chocolate and the milk in a double boiler.

Add everything else at the same time.

Mix it all together.

Divide in quarters and roll each salami in parchment paper.

Then toss all four into the fridge to set.

To get the full salami visual effect simply apply a light layer of confectioners sugar to the outside before serving.

Simplest dessert I have ever made.

Chocolate salami

Recipe

24 oz. dark chocolate

14 oz. can of non-fat sweetened condensed milk

4 oz. dried figs, chopped

4 oz. almonds, chopped

4 oz. plain cookies, broken

2 oz. candied orange peel, chopped

Good splash of rum

Confectioners sugar for coating salami.

In a double boiler melt the chocolate and condensed milk.

Add in all the other ingredients (except the sugar), mix thoroughly and allow to cool for several minutes.

Divide into quarters and transfer each batch to its own piece of parchment paper.

Shape into 10- to 12-inch logs, roll, then refrigerate until hardened.

Remove from the fridge, apply a light coating of confectioners sugar, slice and serve.