This decadently delicious chocolate salami is always a hit! Surprise your guests with this no bake dessert when you reveal the rich chocolate, fruit and nut filled inside. It makes a great edible Christmas gift too!
Where does chocolate salami come from?
In Portugal the salame de chocolate is a very popular tea time treat. They traditionally make it using Maria biscuits, a plain, slightly sweet round biscuit that originated in England, but became very popular across Europe. The recipe classically uses butter and raw eggs.
And in Italy the salame di cioccolato is very popular family treat served with coffee. It's especially enjoyed at Christmas time.
Vegan Chocolate Salami
It's not often that we try and make a recipe that looks like meat on purpose! But it's the time of year when baking is at it's most whimsical, so we decided to throw ourselves into creating a vegan version of chocolate salami that's just as indulgent!
Our chocolate salami is eggless and dairy free, so perfect for anyone who is allergic, or anyone who wants to avoid raw eggs. And all our plant based friends too!
Ingredient tips
Our vegan chocolate salami has just 7 everyday ingredients:
- Dark chocolate
- Plant milk such as soy, oat or almond.
- Olive oil
- Rich tea biscuits or vegan graham crackers.
- Dried fruit
- Nuts - we use organic nuts which we buy in bulk for better value.
- And icing sugar or powdered sugar. Not all brands are vegan, but this powdered icing sugar is certified.
- You will also want some baking parchment to wrap it in. We can recommend this compostable, chlorine free baking paper.
Chocolate
Use good quality vegan dark chocolate. For a sweeter chocolate salami use 50% cocoa content chocolate, often called 'cooking chocolate'. Or for a darker, more rich flavour, use 70% cocoa content.
Biscuits / Cookies
We used rich tea biscuits, but you can also use any other plain biscuits. Look for Marie or Maria biscuits if you are in Spain or Portugal. For our German and Austrian friends vegan Butterkeks will be the most similar. And for our lovely friends across the pond try you can use vegan graham crackers or other vegan cookies.
You can also get experimenting and try other biscuits for a fun twist! Why not try Oreos, Biscoff or even our favourite Austrian cookies Mannerschnitten.
Fruit and Nuts
You can easily customise this chocolate salami recipe by varying your choice of fruit and nuts. Try cranberries and pistachios for a very festive red and green combination. Try almonds and raisins, coconut and cherry, or just a mix of anything you fancy!
Step by step
Here's a visual overview of how to shape the chocolate salami, for more help watch the video too!
It's pretty easy to make, but our top tip is to finely chop up your biscuits, fruit and nuts. That way the salami will roll and hold together best.
Variations and substitutions
If you are making this chocolate salami as a gift, then you can wrap it in parchment paper and ribbon, with a handwritten tag. You could also print out the recipe to include with it!
For gluten free, just use vegan gluten free cookies or biscuits.
For a nut free version, use seeds such as sunflower and pumpkin.
If you do vary the fruit and nuts, try to stick to the quantities listed in the recipe, otherwise you will find you try and add too much filling and your salami won't hold together well. (Yep, we learnt that from experience!)
We hope you have fun making our chocolate salami! Come back soon and try our other vegan sweet treats that also make great edible gifts.
These No Bake Chocolate Cookies (with just three ingredients!)
Our festive Vegan Rum Truffles
And these melt in the mouth Vegan Vanillekipferl Crescent Cookies
📖 Recipe
Vegan Chocolate Salami
Ingredients
- 4 (½ cup) rich tea biscuits or crumbled digestives or vegan graham crackers
- 20 g (2 tbsp) nuts walnuts, pecans, pistachios, hazelnuts, almonds...
- 30 g (2 tbsp) dried fruit cranberries, cherries, raisins...
- 100 g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate use 50% or 70% cocoa content depending on desired sweetness
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp plant milk
- icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Crumble the biscuits up with your hands. Aim for pieces about 1 to ½cm in size, but not so small that they've turned to dust.
- Finely chop your chosen combination of dried fruit and nuts.
- Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a hot water bath, or in a microwave at 30 second intervals.
- Add the olive oil and plant milk to the chocolate and stir until smooth.
- Add the biscuits, dried fruit and nuts to the chocolate mixture and mix until combined.
- Set the mixture aside for approximately 20 minutes, until it has solidified enough to hold its shape well, but hasn't become so solid to that you can't mould it.
- Cut a piece of baking paper about 20cm wide, and spoon the mixture lengthwise onto the centre and then use a spatula to form it into a rough salami shape.
- Fold the bottom edge of the baking paper up and over the mixture and roll it into the paper. Gently press with your hands to get smooth surface and round salami shape. Twist the ends of the paper together at each end.
- Chill the chocolate salami in the fridge for at least 1 hour or until fully set.
- Unwrap and dust with icing sugar on all sides.
- Slice, serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
This information is calculated per serving and is an estimate only.
Deea says
This is very good! In Romania, we made this in the communism's period because it was cheap and delicious. But I still enjoy it nowadays 🙂
Sophie and Paul says
Hey Deea, delighted you enjoy it. 🙂
Katy says
Fabulous recipe! I have been asked to make more for friends and am thinking of making some to sell at a charity Christmas stall in early December. Would it freeze ok if people wanted to buy as gifts for Christmas?
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Katy, So glad the recipe was it hit - it's always a nice to be asked to make more! Sounds like a lovely idea for a charity stall. We haven't personally tried freezing it (as it keeps well in the fridge for a couple of weeks), but I think that it should freeze well. You'll want to wrap it tightly in a couple of layers and freeze for up to 1 month. Then defrost in the fridge before slicing. Hope that helps! Sophie
Shaunace Stanton says
Hello! Would love to make this as Christmas gifts- how early could I make it/how long will it last? Do I have to keep it in the fridge? Could I slice it and then put it in a jar and wrap to place under the Christmas tree?
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Shaunace, It's lovely to hear from you. We'd recommend keeping it in the fridge and it should last for 2 - 3 weeks, so around mid December would be a good time. We've also stored it out of the fridge for at least a week when travelling had no issues as long as it's out of direct sun/heat. We usually wrap it whole in parchment paper, seal and then tie the ends in some pretty ribbon to gift it. I'd probably leave slicing it to on the day so it stays a bit fresher. All the best, Sophie
Ginny B. says
Wondering if plain or toasted almond flour would work for the biscuits? Can't get out right now for cookies.
Sophie and Paul says
Hey Ginny, Without testing it ourselves I'm not sure. I wonder if almond flour would make the texture a bit grainy? I'd probably try toasted oats or granola instead of the cookies, or just add extra nuts instead.Take care, Sophie 🙂