The inspiration for this Gluten Free Chocolate Sausage or Salami was due to the fact that HECK gluten free sausages bought out a chocolate sausage to celebrate Easter. By the time I’d heard about it they had sold out. However, I wasn’t too disappointed to see this because on checking the ingredients I realised that the chocolate sausage wasn’t also dairy free (it was a tall order to be fair).
I also realised that their sweet sausage was packed with other allergens so of course I had a light bulb moment and decided to develop my own version that is dairy free, gluten free and nut free too (depending on the biscuits you choose to make this recipe).
I now think that this is possibly the best and simplest sweet treat I’ve ever made and as it’s packed with dried fruits I can almost convince myself that it’s also one of my 5-a-day … right?
Can I make this Chocolate Sausage with different dried fruits and ingredients?
Obviously the dried fruits I have chosen for this recipe are to my tastes. Not everyone likes raisins, dates, apricots or all three.
The good news is that, as with all my recipes, this is a really versatile recipe and I encourage you to be flexible and have some fun with using other ingredients. As long as you use dried fruits you shouldn’t need to play with the ratios. This means that I’m 99% confident that you will be able to make this without making a special trip to the shops. Literally just use anything that you have in your store cupboard to make these.
You can even mix it up with the chocolate too. I use 150g dark and 100g milk in the recipe, the reason being that the milk helps to sweeten the bitterness of the dark chocolate but you still get a darker colour end result.
If you only have milk or only have dark then use just that. If you do prefer a less sweet chocolate then no need to sweeten the dark, if you prefer things a bit sweeter then add a tablespoon of icing sugar to the bowl of dried ingredients.
Other ingredients that would work really well are;
- goji berries
- golden sultanas
- glace cherries (slightly less ‘sausage-looking’ results though)
- dried cherries
- dried pineapple
- dried apple
- seeds (sunflower, pumpkin)
How do I wrap my Chocolate Sausage?
To get the authentic dried, cured sausage look to your chocolate sausage is embarrassingly simple!
Take a rectangle of greaseproof (parchment) paper, about the length of your forearm (elbow to finger tip) and go crazy and screw it up into a tight ball. Then open the scrunched paper up turn it over and repeat. Take some aggression out while you’re there – I do!
Now you should have a softer, more pliable rectangle of paper that feels more like a stiff piece of cloth that can be rolled and twisted like cling film (film wrap).
How should I store my Chocolate Salami?
I keep my sweet chocolate sausage in a Tupperware container in the fridge.
If, in some strange universe you don’t, like me, eat this in one day. This chocolate sausage will keep for well over a week in the fridge. You simply cut a slice off when you need a quick chocolate fix.
For the very best results take it out of the fridge for 5-10 mins first and your knife will cut through like butter. Cutting straight from the fridge is fine if you need chocolate STAT! but you may get a crack or two in your slice.
Other delicious chocolate free from recipe inspiration
Gluten Free Chocolate Sausage Recipe
A ridiculously simple recipe with the most impressive looking results, this gluten free chocolate sausage (or salami) is made in minutes and can keep in the fridge for ages (apparently, mine never last that long!)
- 150 g dark chocolate dairy free if necessary
- 100 g milk chocolate dairy free if necessary
- 50 g butter I use a vegan block of butter – Flora
- 60 g gluten free digestive biscuits approx. 5-6 biscuits
- 50 g raisins
- 50 g dates
- 50 g apricots
- 40 g white chocolate drops dairy free if necessary
First I spend a short while chopping all the dried fruits. Even if you've used pre-chopped dated and apricots, it's still worth chopping them up a little more. The aim is to have teeny pieces of fruit in the sausage, imagine little bits of meat and fat in a real sausage, Saucisson or salami.
Add all the fruit to a large bowl and set aside.
Chop the biscuits into tiny pieces the size you your little fingernail. Yes you will get lots of biscuit dust, this is not a problem.
Add the chopped biscuits to the bowl of prepped dried fruit.
As this is dairy free chocolate the best method for melting is in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. (dairy free chocolate tends to 'catch/burn' quickly in the microwave).
Add the dark and milk chocolate to the bowl and stir occasionally until all the chocolate has melted.
Next add your 'butter', I cut this into small cubes to melt quicker. Leave the butter to melt, do not stir yet.
Carefully remove the bowl from the pan of water and pour the chocolate and 'butter' into the bowl of dried ingredients – NOW you can stir the chocolate and butter together with the dried ingredients.
Give the mixture a while to cool on the side while you clear the kitchen work surface down, then add the white chocolate drops. We add after a little while so the white chocolate doesn't melt, these will be the pretend 'fatty lumps' in your sausage when you slice into it.
Pop the bowl into the fridge for 10 minutes to allow the mixture to harden a little ready for rolling.
While the mixture is cooling cut a piece of greaseproof paper (about the length of your elbow to fingertips).
Now you'll think I'm crazy but screw the paper up in your hands really tight, unscrew and turn the paper over and do it again!
This is to create the rippled effect of a cured sausage on the surface of the chocolate mixture.
Get your sausage mixture back out of the fridge and place on a well dusted surface using icing or confectionary sugar. Roll the sausage to 25cm long and approx. 6cm wide.
Don't over handle the chocolate sausage at this stage or else it will start to melt, wrap it really tightly in the scrunched greaseproof paper and twist the ends. I hold the ends in place with two elastic bands that I reuse for baking (eco-friendly-style!)
Pop your wrapped chocolate sausage into the fridge for at least 30mins more if you can resist it.
Once the sausage feels solid to the touch remove and unwrap. Now rub the surface of the chocolate sausage with more icing sugar, this is where the magic happens and you suddenly see a dry cured sausage before you!
If you wish to add to the effect you could tie your sausage with string as I have done.
Now all that's left to do is slice of coins of chocolate sausage and enjoy!
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Ooh, that does look good Rebecca. I saw Nigella doing this once years ago on TV and have been promising myself to give it a go every since!!! You’ve beaten me to it. Didn’t know about the Heck version, but I reckon yours will be a whole heap nicer. Chocolate fridge cake is one of my favourite things so I just know I’m going to love this.
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Choclette x
Oh YUM, this looks so totally delicious, and brilliant that it is easy to make dairy-free too. Pinning to try soon!
Thank you Kate, it’s ridiculously simple.
Oh wow this is fanastic. Thank you so much. I wanted to make one of these for my gluten-free friends and they will love this!
Pleased to be of service Sisley x
Love a chocolate sausage 😂😂 Super-yummy! This looks incredibly realistic too. Great job lovely xx
Thank you, it was so much fun making this, I’ll add more white choc chips next time to get more fatty bits I think…might put some people off, maybe too realistic haha.