Aussie dark chocolate crackles
Growing up in Australia in the 60s and 70s, I can’t remember a birthday party without chocolate crackles being served. We didn’t use the language of “sometimes food” back then, but mums everywhere kept an eye on how many you ate. And the tell‑tale chocolate ring around your mouth was hard to hide :)
In developing today’s recipe, I shared a number of variations with groups of friends of all ages. Most commented on the strong feelings of nostalgia that took them straight back to their childhoods. The original chocolate crackles recipe was developed in the 1930s by the company that makes Copha®. That traditional version uses desiccated coconut and cocoa powder, rather than melted chocolate, and the recipe is still printed on the Copha® packet. It can be found here: link . Let’s call this the traditional recipe.
Copha® is made with more than 99% coconut oil and less than 1% soy lecithin. It’s gluten free, contains no palm oil and remains stable at room temperature up to 36 degrees. Click to read the company story here In New Zealand it is called Kremelta. This makes chocolate crackles great for taking to functions, as they don’t need to be kept in the fridge in most circumstances.
I always found chocolate crackles a bit waxy – that is the Copha® – and unlike my little brother, one was enough for me at any one time, especially if it meant I could have one in my lunchbox at school on Monday. My coeliac diagnosis put a stop to enjoying this treat, as the original recipe uses Rice Bubbles® which contain barley malt, meaning it is not gluten free. Happily, Kellogg’s® released a gluten free version in 2022. There are other brands of similar products, usually called rice puffs, which are gluten free, but I have to admit I have not tried them. I should add that I am not sponsored in any way by Kellogg’s to promote their product – I simply gravitated towards them because this was the brand of my childhood.
The gluten free Rice Bubbles® packet has a very different recipe. This version leaves out the desiccated coconut entirely and instead uses just melted dark chocolate and Rice Bubbles®. I tested these out on some friends, and all but one commented that they were missing something. Let’s call this the modern recipe.
My challenge was to find something in the middle – not too waxy, but still hitting all the nostalgic notes. I tried combining the best of both recipes, and this scored at least 9/10 from all my testers. The only complaint was that by using melted dark chocolate that wasn’t tempered, it isn’t stable at room temperature, so you get chocolatey fingers if they’ve been left out of the fridge. You could temper the chocolate for this recipe, but that would take away the childhood pleasure of licking your fingers when you’ve finished.
Chocolate you buy from the supermarket is already tempered – it has a shiny look and snaps when broken. But once you melt it, the crystal structure is disrupted and the cocoa butter crystals rise to the surface. This is what causes blooming (white streaks), so you need to temper it again. Here is a link showing the steps if you want to give it a try: I don’t think it is necessary to temper the chocolate for this recipe.
I found the hybrid version was less sweet than the traditional recipe. This felt a little more “grown up” and was my preferred option. I did add a small amount of coconut oil to the melted chocolate to improve the mouthfeel. This is a personal preference, and the recipe will still work if you leave it out.
Interestingly, not a single taste tester commented that the “crackle” was any different from what they remembered, even though I used gluten free Rice Bubbles®. And they remained crisp in a container in the fridge for five days! (Perhaps longer, but sadly they all got eaten.)
I was tempted to add some finely chopped Turkish delight to the mix, making these a rocky road crackle. Nostalgia won out on the day of filming, but I certainly intend to give that a try.
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