Thank you Mr Cadbury for the inspiration for this one. It’s not as difficult as one would first think. But it goes to show that everyone should be able to have anything available – with a little bit of though any one can.

Converting this to gluten free wasn’t  that difficult, after all it’s just the Krispies that needed changing and good old Cereal Partners Nestles’ Go Free ‘Rice Pops’ are now widely available.

The technical bit was the nougat. Too much sugar boiling and it’ll be tough as toffee, not enough sugar boiling and it would be sloppy. Top that with the right balance of liquid glucose and there is a disaster in the making.

For the nougat I must thank Martin Wishart for the inspiration for the recipe, I have adapted his recipe from GreatBritishChefs.com

Have faith, have confidence and the chocolate bar will turn out brilliant and everyone can enjoy the taste of the high street.

If you have them, you’ll need 2 small brownie pans, one to set the Rice Pops in, the other the nougat. You’ll also need a bit of time for this one. I made this overnight – making and setting the rice pops and cooling the nougat in the evening and covering with chocolate in the morning. It’s not a rush job by any means and it’s a bit messy 😀😀

Prepare 1 of the trays (roughly 28cm x 20cm) by lining it with cling film, line the other with greaseproof. You will need another sheet of each, but we’ll come to that.

There is actually no baking required here!

For the Chocolate Rice Pops;

• 180g melted chocolate (I used milk chocolate)
• 150g Nestle Cereal Partners Rice Pops

For the nougat;

• 420g caster sugar
• c100ml water
• 110g liquid glucose (I used Dr Oetker)
• 80g runny honey (it gives a little colour to the nougat)
• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

To cover in chocolate;

• Approx 400g melted chocolate

Start by mixing the rice Pops and melted Chocolate, pour into your first prepared tray with cling film and squash into the corners and press as flat as you can. By using your 2nd sheet of film, press down the rice Pops firmly so that they compact well. Remember the finished product, you need it firm, crispy and ‘tight’ (for want of a better word!). Put this to one side to cool and set.

Next the nougat.

Have all the ingredients ready to hand and a sugar thermometer a must have here I’m afraid.

1. 400g of the sugar and the liquid glucose in a large straight-edged saucepan – remember the sugar will boil, so it needs to withstand the heat and the sugar boiling up the sides – covered with the water – which should just cover the sugar. Have a pastry brush to hand also in a cup of hot water.
2. Have the egg whites in a mixing bowl ready to whisk and the remaining 20g and of caster sugar – to make a soft meringue.
3. have the honey ready and weighed in a small bowl
4. and the essence ready to pour in.

So bring the sugar in the pan (with the sugar thermometer in) to a gentle boil and allow to boil until it reaches 135c. You will need to keep your eye on this – But don’t stir the pan – if the sugar solution starts to stick to the sides of the pan, brush away with the pastry brush in hot water – it’ll stop any sugar crystals forming in the nougat.

Just before the temperature hits 135c – once it gets about 125c it won’t take long – switch on the whisk to whisk the egg whites to soft peaks.

Add the honey to the sugar solution, by drizzling around the pan and leave this to then reach 145c.

Add the remaining 20g of caster sugar to the egg white and whisk till firm peaks – a la meringue. The sugar solution should now have reached 145c.

Now this is easier with a table top whisk, but if you haven’t, take great care, as the sugar solution if very hot. So with the whisk turned down to half or low speed, slowly pour the sugar solution down the side of the bowl and continue to whisk until all the solution has been poured in.  Then turn up the speed to full and continue to whisk for about 5  – 6 minutes. The nougat will start to thicken and cool a little.

Once done switch off the machine and scrap the nougat into the 2nd prepared pan. You’ll need to work a little fast here and ensure the nougat is all in the pan before you then cover with the 2nd sheet of greaseproof and squash the nougat into the corners, firmly using the back of a spoon to flatten the surface of the nougat. You can quickly remove the covered nougat from the pan and roll flat with a rolling pin,  ensuring you return the nougat to the pan to set.

Then leave the nougat to completely cool before assembling and covering in chocolate.

Once everything is cold, peel the greaseproof off the nougat and the cling film from the gluten free rice pops.

Place the rice pops on the nougat and trim any loose overlapping edges so that you have 4 straight and even sides. Then cut into bars. I cut mine into 15, but you could easily make these a little smaller. Just remember the next stage of covering in melted chocolate..

Once you have you second batch of melted chocolate ready, lift up each bar with a fork, hold over the chocolate and cover all sides using a spoon. The chocolate will hold the nougat and the rice pops in place, once the chocolate has set. Place the covered bars onto a wire rack to cool and set.

Great for any party or get together.