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A teatime treat from The Dabbler’s resident foodie Jassy…

Without question, the greatest chocolate bar of all time is the Dairy Milk Fruit And Nut. The sweet, eager-to-melt chocolate, dimpled with sultanas and shards of almond, offers both a challenge and a surprise in every bite. You never know whether you’ll need to chew, crunch or can just lazily wait for the chocolate to liquefy and slide down your throat.

On Saturday nights a family-sized bar would be our shared treat and the subject of strategic chocolate raids. The subtle art of getting slightly more chocolate than your greedy-fingered siblings requires levels of guile and scheming that would dazzle a General. Sadly, while I overflow with piggish hunger, my capacity for tactical thinking has never really developed beyond seeing and then wanting. I was Wile E. Coyote, my family speed-eating Road Runners. Consequently, I wake every day longing for one more square of Fruit And Nut.

Stirring the flavours of Cadbury’s finest into a loaf of bread recaptures the nostalgic flavours of those weekend treats and stretches them out for a few days, so there’s no risk of missing out (or, there’s less risk. I can’t guarantee your companions won’t snaffle slices behind your back).

I’ve swapped the almonds for toasted hazelnuts and changed milk chocolate into dark because I’m a grown up, but the essential taste remains the same. It’s good sliced warm for the oven or toasted under the grill the next day. However you eat it, a smear of salted butter is essential.

Chocolate, fruit and nut soda bread

Makes 1 loaf

50g hazelnuts
450g plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 level tsp salt
2 tsp caster sugar
100g dark chocolate, chopped
50g sultanas
1 medium egg
250-300ml buttermilk milk (or milk curdled with lemon juice)

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 7/220°C/fan oven 200°C.

2. Place the hazelnuts in a frying pan over a medium heat and dry-fry, shaking the pan for 3–5 minutes or until golden and toasted. Tip out of the pan and roughly chop. Set aside.

3. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Sift in the bicarbonate of soda, then add the salt, sugar, hazelnuts, chocolate and sultanas. Toss the dry ingredients together to mix.

4. Break the egg into a measuring jug and top up with buttermilk to make 400ml. Whisk together. Pour ¾ of this into the flour and mix together quickly with your hand to make a slightly sticky dough – if it doesn’t come together, add more of the milk.

5. Dust your work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Knead and pat the dough a couple of times to make a neat round approximately 6cm high. Transfer to a baking tray lightly dusted with flour. Slash a cross in the top of the loaf and stab each corner with your knife.

6. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to gas mark 6/200°C/fan oven 180°C. Bake for 40 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when you tap it and feels light in your hands. Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before serving in slices.

The bread will keep for 2–3 days and can be frozen.