The rocky road to Dublin and other musings (and recipe)

I wonder do people like Turkish delight? The real stuff I mean. Not the bar. See...I LOVE the bar. I could eat it all day. It's sweet and squishy, and of all the flavours available from Cadbury, it's right up there, with Tiffin and Mint Crisp. Plus..the writing on the wrapping is kinda neat. Anyway, a small bar of Turkish delight was my treat as a child after finishing swim training on a Thursday night. Leaving the pool, entering the chilly night air, freaked by the dappled, slightly sinister florescent street lighting, I'd run to my Dad's car and he'd be waiting with the chocolate. I'd felt I'd earned that bar after swimming lengths for an hour. 

Anyway, one Winter, a Middle Eastern shop opened in my local town. This was the first time you could get such exotic fair as hummus and satay sauce (gasp!). Their selection of savoury food was astounding and even though I couldn't read most of the labels, I adored wandering around, looking at strange bags, jars and tins of mysterious food. At Christmas that year, they opened a sweet counter -bakalava and sweet pastries and TURKISH DELIGHT. Now, I hadn't seen this, but my mother knew how much I loved the bar, so bought a box of it for me for Christmas. 

On Christmas morning I opened the wrapped box and seriously hadn't a clue what it was. She informed me, and to say I was surprised was an understatement. Where was the chocolate? Where was the sheen? The sticky outside? It looked like this:

And it tasted overwhelmingly of rose water. I was kinda disappointed. Maybe I was too young to appreciate it. But it's put me off rose flavoured sweets since. I just didn't like it, and ended up throwing most of it out. I felt kinda guilty too, as it was a gift I wanted to like...but that's life. 
The point of that ramble was really to suggest that Turkish Delight is a bit like Marmite. You either love it or hate it..and also that perhaps it had been 'Westernised' to fit into our tastes by the likes of Cabury and Fry's (not that I'm complaining!)

So when  I came across a recipe that actually used the bar in it, well...it had to be tried. Now I PROMISE this stuff is unreal. It's my kryptonite. Imagine the dusting on Doritos. Yup. It's THAT good. I would even go so far as to suggest it could be used in drug replacement programmes..course, that'd lead to a spike in diabetes/obesity. The lesser of two evils? 

Rocky road is the perfect sweet to have for everyday use. It can be cut into small, tiny pieces to offer with tea at 11, as a treat for a lunchbox (I'm not going to go into healthy eating for kids here..my moto: moderation is key) or as a gift to bring to someone's house. I also think the name is pretty perfect for bringing to football matches. As a devoted Mayo GAA supporter, the trip to Dublin is made yearly (not bragging..just a fact :) ) and as such supplies are lugged along for fear of spending a fortune in the big smhoke. Ham sangwiches and flasks of tea, maybe a jammy dodger or two..but when you want something different? Rocky road is perfect..and the Mayo teams trips are usually rocky. Its also a good way to make friends as you can offer it to other families eating out of the back of their cars. 

I found this recipe in a magazine about 3 years ago, it's a version of one that Nigella Lawson makes (so you know it's not really that healthy :P )
Here's what you'll need:
125 g soft butter (you can use low fat here )
300g good quality dark chocolate (70% minimum - even if you don't like dark chocolate - trust me!)
3 tbsp golden syrup
200g rich tea biscuits
100g mini marshmallows or bigger ones chopped up to make them smaller
165g Turkish delight bars chopped up.

1.Chop the chocolate, and melt in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water with the butter and golden syrup. Do not stir often. The lower the heat, the less stirring, the less chance the chocolate will seize (go all grainy and horrible)

2.While the chocolate is melting, bash up the biscuits in a food bag with a rolling pin or meat hammer.

3.Chop up the Turkish delight.

4.Line a shallow dish or tray with tin foil.

5.When the chocolate has melted, stir well, and leave for a minute.

6.Add the biscuits and stir well. Do the same with the chocolate and marshmallows.

7.Tip into the lined tray and place into the fridge to set for at least 2 hours, if you can , longer.

8.Remove from the fridge, and chop into squares/rectangles to your liking. 

You can mess around with this recipe and make it your own. Try different types of biscuits, bars like Crunchies, different flavoured chocolate..have fun with it..come on, it's not the most beautiful looking cake but I defy anyone not to have a little bit of a moment when they taste it.

If anyone from Mayo liked this recipe..maybe they could help me get a ticket for the final? Pretty please? You know you'll own me big time for giving you the recipe to heaven..just sayin.