In honour of the Supreme Court decision today… OMG politics in a Hygge blog! Yes… because today is another one of those days when hygge will be more necessary than usual. It doesn’t matter (and I don’t want to know) which ‘side’ of the divide you are on… there will be a lot of cross or jubilant people who want to cry or rejoice. And when there are extremes of emotion from anybody, then that is when the willingness to come together in a consciously non-political atmosphere becomes even more necessary. You will need to make agreements with your opposition, to agree that this time/place/room is a politics free zone. No acrimony, no bitterness. For the time of the tea break/meal or TV programme, there will be no argument, and anybody who crosses the boundary needs to leave voluntarily and come back when they can be rationally hygge again.

So, given the fact that there will be  a lot of nastiness everywhere with abuse for both sides, it seems a good day to make Rocky Road. It’s easy, takes no baking, and usually gets a positive smile off everyone I know. And the name is probably prophetic of days ahead…

Rocky Road

Ingredients

200g (large bar) dark chocolate

2 to 3 tbsp golden syrup

135g butter or margarine

Mini Marshmallows. Our recipe says 150g, but we usually slam more in.

200g biscuits. We use rich tea, or ginger nuts, or chocolate digestives, or even some Christmas shortbread in massive chunks once!

Stuff to add, if you want, like cherries, raisins, dried fruit, crushed nuts

Spices (at Christmas time) like ginger, mixed spices, or cinnamon

Method

1. Line a small to medium square baking tray with baking paper.
2. Crush the biscuits and/or nuts
3. Melt the butter, chocolate and syrup in a large saucepan. Stir it constantly until the chocolate has melted and then remove straight away from the heat!
4. Add all the dry ingredients to the melted mix and stir well to cover.
5. Pour into the tin, pressing it out into all the corners.
6. My daughter, who loves chocolate, has melted more chocolate to pour over and fill up the gaps, or used white chocolate melted to add a drizzle pattern to the top.
7. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before dusting with icing sugar and cutting into squares or fingers.

We made them one Christmas in individual muffin tins, and dusted with icing sugar & a snowman as you can see. There’s lots of choices. I make these for family parties quite a few times a year. They really are a popular choice, and I never have any to bring home!

I wish you peace today. Wherever you are, whatever lies before us, I wish you peace and love and joy. I’ve been reading Doctor Zhivago, set during the Russian Revolution, and I worry that there are rocky roads ahead for the World. I hope that if you’re a hygge lover, you can build the bridges that we need. A cup of tea and a cake may never have mended the problems of the world, but it’s never made things worse where both sides are seeking to be happier.

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