Unicorn Rocky Road

There's nothing as simple to make as rocky road-it's just melting chocolate and mixing ingredients. But what about a heart bursting joyful unicorn rocky road with a rainbow of colours and sprinkles that will bring happiness to your day? It's easy as 1, 2, 3!

The idea came to me after the unicorn cake as I surveyed all the sprinkles in my pantry. Colour makes me happy, even my sprinkles shelf makes me happy (small things make me smile obviously ;) ) and I wanted to make something simple but colourful. Enter this unicorn rocky road! There's chocolate, marshmallows, macadamias, pistachios and the chewy texture is from jelly beans while crunch is from the sprinkles. The sour rainbow adds a tangy edge (these were the crazy sour ones) that actually works well with the sweet white chocolate.

I love unicorns and I consider Mr NQN to be a unicorn (as in rare and magical). A couple of weeks ago we went to Newcastle and stayed over on Monday and Tuesday night. Mr NQN left Wednesday morning while I stayed on til late Wednesday evening to try out one of Newcastle's best restaurants. I intended to drive back after dinner around 9pm with Mochi in tow.

Except I haven't done much long distance driving. I'm much more comfortable doing city driving as that's all that I know. I've driven home once from the Blue Mountains during the day but at night is another story. I tried to act braver than I was but inside I was terrified by the prospect. Mr NQN sensing this, kindly offered to catch the train back to Newcastle after work to help drive me home. Honestly, if that isn't unicorn behaviour I don't know what is.

How to make unicorn rocky road!

That night after dinner I picked him up from the station and buoyed with confidence I told him that I'd drive as far as I could. He coached me on dealing with the massive trucks (so many!) and how to use high beam. I thought I was doing well until we noticed the fat drops of rain that started to fall. It became so heavy that it looked as though a greasy, muddy curtain was sweeping across the windscreen. The lights from the cars and trucks became amplified and blurred.

"Big truck! Big truck!!" I kept repeating and then I was reduced to making "meep meep" noises and whimpering. Everything was so fast and with the reduced visibility felt completely out of control.

"Do you want me to take over?" he asked. "YESSS!!" I said but we had to drive for a while until we could find a shoulder area at which to stop. I got out of the car and a truck whooshed past spraying me with water and I screamed and whimpered. Mochi heard this and started fretting and I crawled into the passenger seat and curled up as though drops were still falling on me. I emitted a faint "meep".

All I can say is thank goodness for my unicorn coming back for me! And you know what? He got the lion's share of this unicorn rocky road. Because after all it's named after him.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you have a unicorn in your life be it your partner, parent or friend? Do you prefer city or long distance driving? And does colour make you happy?

Unicorn Rocky Road!

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus refrigerator setting time

Cooking time: 0 minutes

• 500g/1.1lb white chocolate (best quality)
• Oil soluble red or pink food colour powder
• 175g/6ozs. macadamias and pistachios
• 200g/7ozs jelly beans
• 100g/3.5ozs. mini pink and white marshmallows
• 1/2 cup colourful sprinkles (I used three types: rainbow hail, tiny pearls and 100s and 1000s on tiny chocolate rounds)
• 5 strips rainbow sours, cut into thirds
• A small sheet of edible gold leaf

Step 1 - Line a 20x20cm/8x8inch square tin with parchment on the base and sides. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler (I find white chocolate melts better this way than in a microwave as it tends to burn quite easily especially in spots). Add in a small amount of red or pink food colour-you want it to become a pale pink shade.

Step 2 - Mix in the nuts, jelly beans. marshmallows, half the sprinkles and the rainbow sours but making sure to reserve 9 pieces to create the rainbows. Pour into the prepared tin and then sprinkle with the remaining sprinkles.

Step 3 - Take a strip of rainbow sour and stick it in the chocolate. I mentally divided up the square into 9 pieces and just stuck the sours into the chocolate. Allow to set (I put it in the fridge for an hour to give it a bit of a head start). Cut into 9 pieces.