Malteser Slice and Revolutionised Ganache

Malteser Slice has to be one of Boyfriend's favourite things that I make... so much so, that I made some with him in mind for his family Christmas present this year!

The original recipe comes from Birdie's Perch, a tea shop in York via Sam Stern's Student Cookbook which is the most used cookbook in my collection during the year! Originally, I loved his recipes but didn't like his writing style... I've since come to notice that his writing style is very similar to mine (bung this in here, whizz that a little bit, etc) it's kinda y'know chatty... and perhaps I was just jealous that this 12 year old (he's actually a couple of months older than me...) had written several successful cookbooks and I hadn't... then I thought to myself "Well that's more your fault than his, now... isn't it Katherine?!" and therein lies the rather jealous inspiration for this blog... "if  He can do it, so can I!"

Looong story short... Sam Stern is AWESOME, and I thoroughly recommend his student book for all students world wide!

... I'm sure there was a point in here somewhere ... ? ... Ah! Yes! Malteser slice, comes from Sam! He tops his with melted white chocolate and milk chocolate shavings... but I don't really like white chocolate all that much... so I decided that milk chocolate with white chocolate shavings was definitely the way to go!

Then it occurred to me, what about a ganache on top? This, was clearly a genius plan, aside from one, small detail... no cream. Which lead the thought "Cream is basically thick milk, right? So, why not milk instead of cream?" And yes - milk works brilliantly in a ganache! It comes out a little lighter and slightly sweeter (?) than a cream based ganache - but it sure tastes just as good and you can now call it "low fat"! Everything is relative, right? :) Never lookin' back now! - I call it Ganish!

A second change I made to my first attempt of this slice was to make my own biscuits for grinding in place of the called for digestives... I'll upload the recipe some day, but it comes from a chocolate cookbook that Daddy bought me for my half Birthday a couple of years back... I've previously posted a Pecan Pie recipe from that book... Although the chocolate biscuits definitely added another dimension to the slice it is, by no means, necessary! They are just as delicious with plain ole digestive biscuits! (Which I think are similar to Graham Crackers...?)

A sort-of cross-section.

Here, at last, I will post you the recipe!

Ingredients for Slice:

100g butter
75g golden syrup
150g milk chocolate
225g digestive biscuits (bashed into fine crumbs) (I make my own, chocolate wafer biscuits for super-zoom chocolaty-ness, but that's another recipe!)
175g maltesers (broken up a little bit)

Line/grease a 19cm/29cm baking pan.

Melt the butter, syrup and chocolate over a very low heat - careful not to burn!

Once melted tip in the crushed biscuits and maltesers - mix in completely...

Press into the prepared tin and refrigerate while you prepare the ganache...

Ganish:

150g milk or dark chocolate, chopped.
1/4 cup milk

Warm the milk until near boiling point - pour over finally chopped chocolate and allow to site for a few minutes before stirring until all the chocolate is completely melted into the warm milk.

Pour and spread the ganish over the slightly cooled base. Top with either 50g of grated white chocolate or 50g of melted white chocolate.

Cool completely before cutting and serving... if you make hearts - you'll have plenty of bits left over, and your boyfriend will love you forever if you let him eat them! ;)