The Times Online, Kids In The Kitchen - May 2009

I don't buy that of course and no matter what the recipe and no matter what the effort from my daughter, both savoury and sweet are included with Kids in the Kitchen. Just a prod of the spoon or a taste of the recipe as it is being made is including your child in the cooking process. However, it just so happens that sweet type recipes are clearly the most popular, usually because it entails the old licking of the bowl and spoon as well as ‘pinching' half of the recipe as it is being made.

With Easter leaving over a huge amount of chocolate wobbling on our shelves, we decided to use some of it up and we got our hands dirty in the kitchen to make a cracking sweet of all sweets - Rocky Road. This thing is the creation from hell if you are on a diet: chocolate, butter, honey, syrup, sweets, anything really. I've no idea where the idea came from but it is a winner with the kids and adults alike.

It is one of those recipes where there really is no recipe, if that makes any sense at all. As long as you have chocolate and butter to make a large slab to paste all kinds of lovely things into, it will work. But the idea is to make it as 'rocky' as possible. So into mine went a little home made honeycomb, that thing that belongs in the chemistry lab as it explodes out of the pan. A few handfuls of jelly tots, dried fruit and marshmallows, and a load of crushed ginger biscuits stuck it all together quite nicely. This is DIY food, fun food that gets your kids involved and food that gets you all happy in the kitchen.

Rocky Road
Makes one large slab

100g milk chocolate
100g plain chocolate
100g butter
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp honey
20 ginger biscuits, crushed
A few handfuls of marshmallows
A bag of jelly tots
A couple of handfuls of dried fruit such as cherries and apricots, roughly chopped
A couple of handfuls of honeycomb or Maltesers, broken up

1 - To make some honeycomb, put a couple of tablespoons each of caster sugar and honey into a pan. Bring to the boil then simmer until beginning to caramelise. Quickly stir in a tablespoon of Bicarbonate of Soda and as it fizzes up, pour onto a plate or tray lined with greaseproof paper. Leave to dry.
2 - To make the Rocky Road, melt the chocolate and butter in a pan then stir in the cocoa powder and honey. Leave to cool a little before stirring in the remaining ingredients, leaving a few of the tots, mallows and dried fruit to decorate the top.
3 - Pour into a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Decorate the top in any order you wish then leave in the fridge to set.
4 - Cut into cubes and dig into that Rocky Road.