Sri Lankan-ish chocolate biscuit pudding bars
Chocolate Biscuit Pudding or CBP is a very Sri Lankan dessert.
CBP is a recent discovery for me and I am fascinated as to how and why it has entered the Sri Lankan recipe canon.
Our most famous dessert is probably the Watalappam, a jaggery-infused egg custard. I liken this to a Sri Lankan creme caramel - only much richer, and so much more delicious.
In our family, Watalappam was our (or my mother’s) go-to dessert made for family gatherings. I remember the aunties ooohing and ahhing as the pudding was scooped out of the Pyrex dish and wobbled its way into our dessert bowls and swiftly into our tummies.
Research reveals that chocolate biscuit pudding was introduced to Sri Lanka by the British. I’ve been rifling through my recipe books in search of CBP. I have found it in the Ceylon Daily News Cookery Book (both the 60s and 80s editions) tucked between Charlotte Russe and Chocolate Chiffon Pie. I find it fascinating that the older recipe books have a significant number of Western recipes. The Ceylon Daily News CPB recipe call for cream, egg whites, sugar, chocolate biscuits and glace cherries.
Modern recipes use Marie biscuits, which are similar to the British Rich Tea biscuits, the perfect tea dunker biscuit. Milked-soaked Marie biscuits are layered with chocolate buttercream icing and generally no glace cherries.
I’ve played around with my recipe. It’s more pudding bar than pure pudding with the addition of Arrack-soaked raisins, toasted cashew nuts, dates, a dash of kithul syrup and no glace cherries. I wanted to find a way of making the CBP last that much longer and making bars was the best way to achieve this.
There’s very little cooking with this recipe. It's a case of mix, make and leave to set in the fridge, then eat.
I hope you enjoy this recipe.
It's a delightful treat with a cup of tea or coffee. Perfect for curling up with a book and slowly nibbling away at the chocolate, biscuit, raisins, dates and nuts. It’s the best treat to share with friends.