Biscuit Salami: The Simple Traditional Recipe

What's quick to make, requires no cooking, can be sliced ​​and eaten by the yard if your conscience permits? Biscuit salami, of course. The recipe is simple and can be completed even by children, and the taste beats more demanding desserts without any effort.

What is biscuit salami?

Biscuit salami is a no-bake dessert made from crushed biscuits and a mixture of cocoa or chocolate, sugar and butter, shaped into a cylindrical shape and then cut into slices. It is simple, affordable and easy to prepare, which is why it has become one of the most widespread homemade sweets in Europe.

Although in Romania we often perceive it as "our" dessert, the dish has well-documented origins in Italy and Portugal, where it appears under the name salame di cioccolato or salame de chocolate. Through Italian immigration in the 20th century, the dessert also spread to Uruguay and Argentina.

In Germany, the dish is known as Kalter Hund - Cold Dog in a literal translation, and in many other European countries it circulates under similar variations, all keeping the same basic idea: a simple, cold dessert based on biscuits and cocoa.

Ingredients for biscuit salami

Regardless of the variant, biscuit salami starts, as mentioned above, from a few basic ingredients: biscuits, cocoa, sugar, and a flavoring. Recipes differ in quantities and additions, but broadly speaking they include the following:

Basic ingredients

• plain biscuits
• cocoa
• sugar

Liquid ingredients

• water
• milk
• cognac or rum
  

Classic additions to Romanian biscuit salami recipes

• bullshit
• NUTS
• essences, vanilla sugar and various spices for cakes
• lemon zest and juice, orange peel
• cinnamon
• sour cherries from sour cherries or from jam
• butter or margarine
  

Newer Additions to Biscuit Salami Recipes

• carob powder instead of cocoa
• honey instead of sugar
• raisins, cranberries, dried dates
• Nutella
• almond or coconut flakes for garnish
  

You can combine them as you like, but try to respect the 1:2.5 ratio between liquid or creamy ingredients and solids.

Salami biscuit recipe

No matter how few ingredients this dessert has, every household has its own favorite version. In many old notebooks, both extremely simple variants and richer recipes, "like in the old days", appear. Below you have two of them: one for when you want something quick, and a traditional one, as it was prepared in Romanian homes in the years when raatul and nuts were basic ingredients in desserts.

Simple biscuit salami

Ingredients:

• 250 g plain biscuits
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup of ground walnut kernels
• 4 tablespoons of cocoa
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 sachet of vanilla sugar
• 1 rum essence
  

Preparation method:

1. Crush the biscuits as you prefer: larger or smaller.
   2. Mix the granulated sugar, powdered sugar, ground walnuts, cocoa and vanilla sugar in a bowl.
   3. Add the biscuits and rum essence.
   4. Combine everything with a warm simple syrup (sugar + water) or with hot water poured in little by little, until you obtain a moldable composition.
   5. Roll the mixture in cling film and refrigerate for a few hours.
   

Biscuit salami traditional recipe

It is also known as the recipe for biscuit salami with melted shit. You can choose shit with cocoa or other flavors. The shit melts easily and becomes the base that binds the whole composition, giving that compact and shiny look specific to biscuit salami from the old days.

Ingredients:

• 400 g biscuits
• 250 g of shit
• 100 g walnut kernels
• 200 g powdered sugar
• 30 g cocoa
• 1 sachet of vanilla sugar
• 30 ml rum
  

Preparation method:

1. Put the shit in a saucepan with a few tablespoons of water. Keep on low heat and stir until it becomes soft, like marmalade.
2. Add the crushed biscuits, finely chopped walnuts, cocoa and rum.
3. Mix well until the mixture is smooth and leave to cool.
4. Spread a layer of powdered sugar on the cling film, then place the mixture on top and roll it into a salami shape.
5. Refrigerate for a few hours. It's best to prepare it the day before so it hardens and slices nicely.

If you want to take the traditional biscuit salami recipe into even creamier territory, you can use dairy: replace the water with milk.

Biscuit salami variations

Biscuit salami with margarine

Ingredients:

• 200 g plain biscuits
• 200 g of shit
• 400 g walnuts
• 100 g margarine
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 100 g powdered sugar
• 1 lemon (juice + grated zest)
• rum or vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  

Preparation method:

1. Roast the walnuts for a few minutes to release their flavor. Once cool, peel and chop them however you prefer: fine for flavor, coarse for texture.
2. Prepare the base: melt the shit over low heat with a little hot water. As it becomes a paste, incorporate the cocoa, nuts, and margarine.
3. Incorporate the ground or crushed biscuits beforehand, then flavor with lemon juice and zest, cinnamon, and the chosen essence.
4. Shape the composition : spread the powdered sugar on a board and roll the mixture into a salami shape, so that a thin layer of sugar adheres to the outside.
5. Cool the dessert: leave it in the refrigerator for a few hours so that it hardens and can be cut into clean slices.

Sugar-free biscuit salami

This variation is ideal for those who avoid refined sugar but don't want to give up a classic dessert. Plums and dates bring natural sweetness, carob replaces cocoa, and coconut oil and plant-based milk bind the composition into a surprisingly flavorful diet biscuit salami.

Ingredients:

• 150 g plain biscuits (you can also use diabetic biscuits or homemade sugar-free biscuits)
• ½ cup prunes
• ½ cup dates
• ½ cup walnuts
• 2 tablespoons carob powder
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• ⅓ cup plant-based milk
• 2 teaspoons rum essence
  

Preparation method:

1. Place the plums, dates, carob, coconut oil, vegetable milk, and rum essence in a blender and process until you obtain a fine paste.
2. Crush the biscuits and nuts or pulse them a few times in the blender so that small pieces remain for texture.
3. Mix the paste with the biscuits and nuts until the mixture is smooth.
4. Shape the mixture into a roll, like any biscuit salami, and refrigerate it for a few hours to harden.

Chocolate biscuit salami

In this variation, the chocolate is completely replaced with dark chocolate, resulting in a more intense and smoother biscuit salami.

Ingredients:

• 300 g plain biscuits
• 150–200 g dark chocolate
• 150ml milk
• 100g sugar
• 100g butter
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• rum essence
  

Preparation method:

1. Prepare the chocolate base: put the milk, sugar, butter, and broken chocolate into a saucepan. Leave them on low heat until they melt and form a thick, homogeneous syrup. This completely replaces the melted crap used in traditional versions.
2. Flavor the syrup with rum and cocoa after you remove it from the heat.
3. Incorporate the biscuits directly into this chocolate syrup. The mixture is ready when it becomes thick and easily comes away from the sides of the bowl.

From here on, proceed as with a regular salami.

Biscuit salami with mascarpone

This is basically similar to the chocolate biscuit salami recipe, except that the butter is replaced with mascarpone. This ingredient makes the composition smoother and more “Italian dessert style.” The mascarpone is gradually homogenized in the steam bath where the chocolate was melted.

In the end, you get a more refined biscuit salami, in which chocolate and mascarpone are intertwined into a dense, smooth and slightly refreshing cream.

Biscuit salami remains one of the simplest and easiest to adapt desserts in our kitchen. You can make it with chocolate, with rum, with mascarpone, without sugar or in a fasting version, and the preparation is so friendly that even children can get involved without any problems. It also works great when you are looking for a lighter option, and on lazy Sundays when you feel like the comfort food of childhood. Whatever form it takes, it remains a safe and always loved recipe.