A quick&easy no-bake-cake based on chocolate and cookies.

It's an eastern-european dish. There are many different variations, including fancy ones, but this version is down to the basics. Fast and only a minimum of necessary ingredients.

Oh, and it's an exclusive winter-dish. You will see in the end why.



"Blood Sausage"
* ingredients for a log of 6 cm (2.5 inch) thickness and 35 cm (14 inch) length
* preparation-time: ~30-45 minutes + 24 hours in the refrigerator
- 200g plain cookies (e.g. shortbread)
- 8 tablespoons of liquid (e.g. cold milk, cold coffee, liquor...)
- 100g butter
- 100g nougat- or chocolate-cream/spread (e.g. Nutella)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa-powder (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon sugar (to taste)

You will need a large salad-bowl that can hold the whole mixture

1.
- Break the cookies into bits of half-an-inch size into the salad-bowl. If you have small kids available, put them to work!
- Evenly sprinkle the cookies with the liquid.

2.
- Mix the butter and the nougat-creme until creamy.
- Carefully stir the cocoa-powder in with a spoon, then mix thoroughly until well-combined.

3.
- Pour the nougat-batter over the cookies and slowly and gently stir until everything is evenly mixed.

4.
- Lay out a sheet of kitchen plastic wrap, about 25x70 cm (10x25 inch), short edges facing sideways.
- Pour the dough onto the plastic wrap and arrange with a spoon into a lengthy loaf. Don't worry if it looks ugly.
- Fold the upper and lower edges of the plastic wrap over the loaf. Roll and massage until you have an evenly-shaped log and all the air-bubbles are out.
- Tie the ends of the plastic wrap into knots.

5.
- Refrigerate for 24-48 hours.
- If your fridge is too small because the cake is too long, wrap it into shopping-bags and put it outside into the cold, e.g. on the outer window sill. -> Winter-dish.

6.
- For serving, cut into slices.





This was the basic version. You can upgrade it by filling the cake.
- e.g. 20 pitted sour-cherries

4b.
- Once you have rolled the dough into an even log, pat it with your flat hand until it's flat. Fold back the plastic wrap.
- Press a groove along the center-line of the loaf and put the cherries in there in one line from one end of the loaf to the other.
- Grab the upper and the lower edge of the plastic wrap, lift them up and gently rock them up and down until the loaf becomes U-shaped and wraps around the cherries. Then fold the plastic wrap over the loaf and roll and massage again.