Chocolate Crackles

Rice Bubbles are mixed (gently!) with cocoa, copha, caster sugar, and dessicated coconut to form a crisp chocolately sludge.

The mixture is then transferred in big desert spoon dollops into greased patty cake liners and refrigerated, whereby they set into scrumptious solid (but delightfully aerated) treats.

Chocolate crackles were always available from school fetes when I was a kid in the 1970s.

I forgot all about chocolate crackles until last week when I happened across a retro selection of them in The Wentworth Hotel in Sydney. I had to stop and buy one, which nestled in it's brown paper bag all the way to the airport where I proceeded to munch into the treat while checking in.

To my delight, the crackle had been adultified with the addition of Baileys Irish Cream to the aforementioned sludge. Hell, it was delicious! Even the lady checking me in eyed off my crackle with a lustful nostalgic gaze.

A child's birthday party in Australia would not be the same without a few essentials. I am speaking of fairy bread, minty hunts, and an endless supply of the wonderful chocolate treat known to every kid in the country as chocolate crackles. Remember your delight as they dissolved into a party for the mouth, tastebuds clinging and lingering to taste every last skerrick of nummy goodness?

Every adult is a child at heart... Even if they have to dig way down to find the child lurking deep below the surface of their otherwise mature appearance. Today is my fathers birthday and chocolate crackles are his favourite treat, so I found myself in the kitchen (for what is a birthday without your most loved goodies?!). Trust me. Your precious childhood memories are true, and indulging in some chocolate crackles every once in a while will not make them diminish. So use any excuse possible. Hell, who needs an excuse?!! Get cracking, your tastebuds are waiting! Oh, and it must be known that for a person to live out their life without a taste of such yumminess is a sin of the worst kind!

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups of Rice Bubbles (Rice Krispies)
• 3/4 Cup of sifted icing sugar
• 1/2 Cup desiccated coconut
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of sifted cocoa
• 125g Copha
• Patty pans

Method:

Mix the Rice Bubbles, cocoa, coconut, and sugar together in a large bowl. Melt copha slowly in a small saucepan over low heat. Once completely dissolved, allow the copha cool for 5 minutes. Add the copha to the dry mix, stirring gently until the mix is completely combined to form the crisp chocolatey sludge referred to above by simonc. Spoon into patty pans, and refrigerate until firm.

Makes roughly 15.

Variations to this recipe include the addition of Baileys Irish Cream (a wickedly indulgent treat for the mature person, who is still a kid at heart) mentioned by simonc, and the rolling of the almost set crackle mixture into balls, which are coated in coconut and in turn refrigerated.

Remember, each rice bubble is fragile, and the creation of this treat depends on the bubbles remaining intact... Be gentle in preparation.

Licking the bowl is always my favourite part of making any dessert, this was no exception.

Generations of Australians have grown up with Chocolate Crackles,
and now Kellogg's is attempting to claim ownership of the recipe
and ban the sale of Chocolate Crackles at fetes and fairs.
Damn the man!! Save the Chocolate Crackle!!