Dive into nostalgia with this Chocolate Crunch and Chocolate Custard recipe! This easy-to-make dessert combines a crunchy chocolate base with a quick and simple, chocolate custard.
Relive the comforting flavours of school dinners with this delectable Chocolate Crunch paired with an easy chocolate custard. This chocolate crunch recipe with quick chocolate custard, is one that is years old. It is the one that I use to have served up as a dessert when I was at primary school. This recipe is one that my mum got from the school cook so that she could make it for me and my sister. It is a classic school dinner dessert that brings all the nostalgia back to the kitchen table.
This recipe uses a cheat’s custard that is a quick and easy solution for busy days, coming together in just a few minutes. Unlike traditional custard, this one doesn’t use eggs. As a result, you can control the thickness of it when making it. You can have it thinner allowing it to soak into the crunchy base and create a melt-in-your-mouth experience. Alternatively, you can thickening it up so it coats the chocolate crunch allowing it to keep its crunch more. Whether you’re serving it hot with the custard, or enjoying the crunch just by itself cold, this dessert is sure to become a family favourite, bringing smiles and sweet memories to your table.
Star Ingredient
The key to the rich, chocolatey flavour in both the crunch and the custard is the cocoa powder. Used generously within the crunchy base and the custard, it infuses every bite with deep, intense chocolate goodness. Cocoa powder not only provides that classic chocolate taste we all love, but it also enhances the overall texture and richness of the dessert. Its versatility and ability to elevate simple ingredients into something extraordinary make it the star of this nostalgic recipe.
How to Purchase Ingredients for Chocolate Crunch to be Conscious to the Planet
The base of the chocolate crunch uses store cupboard staples that hopefully are in every household, making this a great recipe if you fancy a treat at any time. The flours and sugars in the recipe can be picked up in supermarkets in paper bags. Or you can of course purchase from zero waste shops in bulk using your own containers.
For the cocoa powder, I would recommend, picking this up from zero waste shops. If buying in supermarkets, the refill boxes then have the powder within a plastic bag. The tubs of cocoa powder initially potentially are not as bad as you could reuse and refill from a refill shop utilising the plastic lid again. If stocking your baking cupboard from scratch and you can pick your container, I would recommend a clip top jar. They come in various sizes depending so if you use cocoa powder a lot you can have a large jar. Similarly for the cornflour, I like to pick up when shopping at zero waste shops, as it has plastic bags when purchased in supermarkets. Repurposing jars from jams can be a great size for cornflour as generally you only use tablespoons at a time for recipes.
Eggs I like to pick up from my local farm shop or farmer’s market. I retake my cardboard egg cartons to refill each time. If you are shopping at supermarkets, lean towards the carboard egg cartons on the shelf. You can reuse or repurpose them in the garden if you do a bit of growing yourself. Alternatively, they are recyclable or compostable.
When it comes to milk, I will always encourage the use of your local milkman. Having milk and various milk alternatives delivered to your door, is quick and easy. You then have that circular system where you can leave it outside again for collection when your next delivery is due. This allows for the bottles to remain in circulation and in use, reducing waste.
Ingredients you can buy Plastic Free
- Self Rasing Flour
- Plain Flour
- Caster Sugar
- Cocoa Powder
- Egg
- Vanilla Extract
- Granulated Sugar
- Cornflour
- Oat Milk
Ingredients you can make Plastic Free
- Butter – homemade recipe here if not needing to have as dairy free recipe.
Equipment You Will Need
- Mixing Bowl
- Spatula
- Saucepan
- Small Bowl / Ramekin
- Fork
- Measuring Spoons
- 6 ½” x 10” Baking Tin
- Baking Parchment Paper
- Pastry Brush
- Cooling Rack
- Whisk
- Measuring Jug (optional – demanding on method used for making the chocolate custard)
Tips and Tricks when Baking Chocolate Crunch with Chocolate Custard
Mixing up you Chocolate Crunch
When it comes to combining dry ingredients, whisks can be useful, to even distribute the mix. You can use a whisk for bring the chocolate crunch mixture together, however you may need to swap to a spatula towards the end once the egg, melted margarine and vanilla extract is added. This is as the mixture can get stuck within the balloon of the whisk, making it harder to full incorporate all the dry ingredients. If you want to keep you washing up to a minimum, I recommend using a spatula right from the start.
Making your Chocolate Custard
The custard in this recipe is a quick and easy chocolate one that isn’t a true custard. You could class it as a cheats chocolate custard. It requires only a few ingredients and comes together very quickly.
Cocoa powder is my preference when making up this chocolate custard. The original school recipe calls drink cocoa. I have tried out making the custard with both. Using drink cocoa / hot chocolate powder, it creates a sweeter chocolate custard as these tend to already have sugar mixed in the powder. Using cocoa powder allows you to control the sweetness level with the amount of sugar that you than add to it. You can make it with either depending on what you have on hand.
Similarly, I have swapped out the milk to oat milk due to my dairy intolerance. You can use whichever milk you have in the fridge for this recipe.
Creating a Thicker Chocolate Custard
If you prefer a thicker coating custard, then you can make this cheat one just in a saucepan. Add the milk, cocoa powder and cornflour into the saucepan. Over a medium heat, whisk together until the mixture thickens (about 5 minutes). Then add in the sugar and whisk to combine. You can then pour straight from the saucepan or pop into a serving jug to be placed on a table for people to help themselves to.
Making small batches of Chocolate Custard
The quantities in custard recipe are to make enough for serving with all 8 squares of the chocolate crunch. You can half and half it again depending on how many squares of the chocolate crunch you are serving up.
Chocolate Crunch with Chocolate Custard
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Spatula
- Saucepan
- Small Bowl / Ramekin
- Fork
- Measuring Spoons
- 6 ½” x 10” Baking Tin
- Baking Parchment Paper
- Pastry Brush
- Cooling rack
- Whisk
- Measuring Jug (optional – demanding on method used for making the chocolate custard)
Ingredients
Chocolate Crunch
- 125 g Self Raising Flour
- 125 g Plain Flour
- 125 g Caster Sugar
- 25 g Cocoa Powder
- 125 g Plant Butter or Margarine
- 1 Egg beaten
- 2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Teaspoon Granulated Sugar
Chocolate Custard
- 1 ½ pint Oat Milk
- 1 Tablespoon Cornflour
- 2 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
- 2 Tablespoon Caster Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.
- Line the baking tin with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.
- Add the melted butter, beaten egg and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix to combine into a dough.
- Tip the dough into the baking tin and firmly press it out to the sides of the tin.
- Brush the top with a little bit of water, and then sprinkle out the granulated sugar.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to the cooling rack to cool completely.
- Cut the chocolate crunch into 8 pieces, by cutting it in half along the short side and then in half and half again along the long side.
- When ready to serve, make up the chocolate custard.
- To make the chocolate custard, add the cornflour and cocoa powder into a measuring jug with a small amount of oat milk, just enough to create a smooth cream when whisked together.
- Heat up the remaining milk in a saucepan over a medium heat.
- When the milk boils, carefully pour it over the cocoa powder cream mixture and whisk together.
- Add in the sugar and whisk again.
- Serve the chocolate crunch in bowls and pour of the chocolate custard.
- If you are not eating all the chocolate crunch at once, store it in an airtight container.
Other School Dinner Desserts you may be Interested in
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