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Chocolate “Salami” Cookies

Chocolate salami sounds a little horrifying — two foods that never should be paired together. But I’m here to soothe your fears: This is a sweet chocolate cookie that only looks like a salami when sliced.

There’s no meat involved in all! In fact, these chunky cookies can be completely vegan or gluten-free if you want to make them that way.

I first made this dessert for the Italian installment of our long-running New Year’s Eve party way back in 2009. They were the surprise hit of the evening — and that’s saying a lot for a menu that also included homemade orecchiette with Bolognese and my (still-secret) family meatballs and red sauce.

chocolate "salami" cookies with nuts and dried fruit on a plate
Photo: Casey Barber

Originally taken from my stepmom’s Italy: the Beautiful cookbook, I adapted this recipe to make it more of a holiday cookie with seasonal spices.

OK, so there’s no meat. But what’s in a chocolate salami cookie?

Instead of cured pork, this cookie uses melted bittersweet chocolate to bind a bunch of complementary ingredients that, when sliced, looks like a cross-section of a hard sausage.

These include:

  • almonds
  • raisins or dried cranberries (for you raisin-haters, I see you)
  • vanilla wafers or gingersnaps
  • candied orange peel (don’t ignore this one — I swear it’s crucial)
  • and a few holiday spices

When mixed with the chocolate and rolled into a log, these bits and pieces combine for a crunchy, spiced mouthful in every bite of cookie.

chocolate "salami" cookies with nuts and dried fruit on a plate
Photo: Casey Barber

Don’t skimp on the chocolate for this no-bake cookie

Yes! If you’re so over baking cookies for hours and hours during the holiday season, this cookie recipe is a welcome relief. All you need to do here, cooking-wise, is to melt chocolate, butter, and sugar together.

For this recipe, you can use any brand of chocolate you prefer and any style — block, bar, or disc — as long as it’s pure chocolate and not chips or baking melts.

As I explain in my post on how to easily chop pure chocolate, chips contain stabilizers so they’ll keep their shape when melted.

chocolate "salami" cookies with nuts and dried fruit on a plate
Photo: Casey Barber

And baking melts are another compound style of chocolate that skimps on the cocoa butter to give a more meltable consistency. However, they can feel and look softer and waxy even after they’ve hardened, unlike pure chocolate.

In this case, we want real, quality chocolate, so go ahead and get the good stuff! Jacques Torres makes dark chocolate discs that are vegan and perfectly suited for this recipe, if you need a suggestion.

chocolate "salami" cookies with nuts and dried fruit on a plate
Photo: Casey Barber

A few notes on shaping and slicing

As I say in the recipe below, I am very much not a fan of plastic wrap for sustainability reasons. However, it really does make an effective tool for shaping the cookie mixture into logs.

If you don’t have plastic wrap in the kitchen (good for you!), you will still have to use something disposable — waxed paper is slightly easier to work with than parchment paper in this case.

Shape into as smooth of a log as you possibly can. There will be dips and imperfections, but they are homemade cookies, after all!

chocolate "salami" cookies with nuts and dried fruit on a plate

Depending on how coarsely you crush the vanilla wafers or gingersnaps in this recipe, the chocolate salami cookie logs can be a bit crumbly when sliced.

Make sure to make thick slices — about 3/4 inch to 1 inch — to alleviate the crumbling. And slice with a large knife, using slow but gentle pressure.

The cookies will be irregular, just like an actual salami. But they’ll taste phenomenal regardless.

Chocolate Salami

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Additional Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Chocolate "salami" cookies are a sweet, nutty dessert that looks beautiful on any holiday platter. These no-bake cookies can be vegan or gluten-free, too!

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces / 113 grams (about 1 cup whole) raw or roasted unsalted almonds
  • 6 ounces / 168 grams (about 2 1/2 cups) coarsely crushed vanilla wafers or gingersnaps
  • 70 grams (about 1/3 cup) raisins or dried cranberries
  • 20 grams (about 2 tablespoons) chopped candied orange peel
  • 1/2 pound (8 ounces; 227 grams) chopped bittersweet chocolate or pure chocolate baking discs
  • 4 tablespoons (2 ounces; 57 grams) unsalted butter or vegan butter sticks
  • 6 tablespoons (75 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 pinch ground cloves

Instructions

  1. Roughly chop the almonds.
  2. Add to a large mixing bowl, then stir in the vanilla wafers, raisins, and orange peel.
  3. Create a double boiler situation by bringing a small saucepan of water to a simmer over medium-low heat.
  4. Add the chocolate and butter to a heatproof (stainless steel or aluminum) bowl that fits over the saucepan of water snugly, but does not dip low enough to touch the water.
  5. Place the bowl over the water and stir constantly to melt the chocolate and butter until smooth.
  6. Just as the last pieces of chocolate are melting, stir in the sugar, cinnamon, and cloves until dissolved.
  7. Scrape the chocolate into the mixing bowl with the reserved ingredients.
  8. Stir well to coat all the ingredients with chocolate. This may seem impossible, but I assure you it's not! Just take your time.
  9. Lay two large sheets of plastic wrap or waxed paper on a clean work surface. (I truly hate plastic wrap, but it does work most effectively here.)
  10. Divide the mixture evenly between the sheets.
  11. Wrap and roll each into a log about 1 foot long and 2 inches thick, using your palms to shape the chocolate mixture and press it together.
  12. Refrigerate the logs for at least 2 hours or until the chocolate has fully hardened.
  13. Unwrap each log and slice into thick pieces, about 3/4 to 1 inch.
  14. Keep the cookies refrigerated until ready to serve.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 557Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 129mgCarbohydrates: 121gFiber: 7gSugar: 97gProtein: 3g

The nutritional information above is computer-generated and only an estimate.

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9 Comments

  1. I feel like we should sign a contract or something that says when Casey is an even bigger-time and more famous celebrity cyber chef that we continue to get her services on NYE at our current rates into perpetuity! She is a phenomenal asset and her food makes the party happen. Clearly she outdid herself this year.

    As noted above, the Chocolate salami was to die for… The handmade orecchiette bolognese was also stunning…but if I were you, I would start begging for the recipes for the cranberry-almond biscotti and polenta-rosemary pound cake with mascarpone cream…the leftovers from those two divine creations will keep my new year dieting resolutions at bay for days to come!

  2. this is amazing. The orecchiette looks so delicious, as do the biscotti- wow, wow, wow. well done, as usual :)

    you are julie from julie and julia.

    happy new year. xo

  3. Aw, LeeMichael, I will ALWAYS cook for you for free. And just for you, I’ve updated the post to add the pound cake recipe. An extra treat for the New Year!

  4. As the host (i.e. – the one supplying the real estate (my specialty)) and the only other person to be at EVERY New Year’s bash besides Dan and Casey, this girl blew it out this year. I second Lisa – DAMN GIRL!!!

    I can’t wait for Epcot!!!

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