Green tea rocky road: a sort-of recipe - and have a Merry Christmas

Christmas tree at the Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
(Singapore food and travel posts to come soon)

First of all, Merry Christmas! I hope you spend tomorrow and all the festive season with loved ones, gorgeous food and responsible amounts of booze. And leave something nice out for Santa tonight, like a G&T or a perky dry rose.

Teddy bear Christmas tree at the Fullerton Hotel, Singapore

I'm not much of a recipe poster, but this no-cooking chocolate confection was pretty popular with a casual gathering and I imagine it would be for festive celebrations too.

Green tea rocky road - I think the inspiration came from eating way too many green tea Kit Kats which I bought in Japan earlier this year. And not being a cake or something requiring accuracy, this anything-goes kind of 'cooking' suits my style to a tee.

Green tea rocky road

The must-have ingredients for basic rocky road are chocolate and marshmallows. As for the rest of the fillings, classic ones are nuts, dessicated coconut and glace cherries. And if these items aren't in your pantry, why not try other combinations - like dried cranberries and pretzels here in this green tea version.

I call this a sort-of recipe as I don't provide an ingredients list or quantities as such - make as much or as little as you please. The only requirement is that the melted chocolate coats all the fillings.

White chocolate buttons for melting

First, melt the chocolate. I used a packet of white chocolate buttons. Better quality chocolate can be used, of course, but seeing the melange of flavours I was about to throw into it, I wasn't too worried about chocolate quality.

Melt the chocolate: whether in the microwave in bursts or over a double boiler (or even a pot of boiling water). Stir thoroughly, ensuring all chocolate pieces are melted and let it cool slightly.

Melted white chocolate with green tea powder

The next step is to add green tea powder, which is generally finely milled leaves of green tea. It's available in most Asian grocers in the Japanese section (I got mine in a small tin from the IGA in Market City, Chinatown).

I'd say add two teaspoons of the powder to the pack of melted chocolate to start, and add more to taste (I like a strong green tea flavour, so added about 1.5 teaspoons more).

Mix very thoroughly to achieve a consistent, sinister green colour.

Adding dried cranberries, marshmallows and pretzels to the chocolate mix

Next, add your fillings of choice. Start with a small amount, mix them through and see if the melted chocolate can hold more fillings, in which case, add more.

I added pink and white marshmallows (the normal size although the smaller ones would certainly work too), plain salted pretzels and a handful of dried cranberries for pops of sweet tartness.

When the fillings are amply coated with chocolate, pour out the mixture into a baking paper lined wide tray - I used a brownie one. Allow it to set at room temperature.

Once the chocolate has hardened, remove the rocky road from the tray and carefully cut into small squares. Serve / gift wrap / eat.