Wartime Chocolate Clusters

MrD finishes work at 6am on Fridays.. this morning we managed to get to the Farmers Market nice and early. We needed chicken feed.. but I also found some fresh peaches and plums at a very reasonable price. That's my jam list finished!

Yesterday MrD was craving something a choclatety.. but I was low in actual chocolate.  I remembered this leaflet from 1940 that had lots of chocolate treats using Frys cocoa powder. This wartime recipe leaflet for cakes, biscuits and sweets have ingredients including dried egg, dried milk, margarine and grated potatoes. Luckily many of those ingredients weren't included in this recipe. Last Christmas I used one of the recipes to make Wartime Chocolate Truffles.. which were a huge success. 

However.. these chocolate clusters were a bit disappointing. The flavour was ok.. but 24 hours later they just didn't harden. MrD said he didn't mind the texture.. but to me the oats were just a bit funky. The recipe suggests using wheat flakes which I think might have been a better alternative.

The mixture only made six clusters... so Im sure it wont be too much of a chore for MrD to finish off

2 tablespoons sugar (rounded)
2 tablespoons milk
A walnut-sized piece of margarine
1 tablespoon Fry's cocoa (rounded)
4 tablespoons rolled oats
A few drops of vanilla essence

Original Leaflet Recipe

• Put the sugar, milk, and margarine into a saucepan. 
• Bring the mixture to a boil and let it boil for exactly 2 minutes
• Remove from heat and cool slightly.
• Combine the cocoa and rolled oats together.
• Stir the cocoa and oat mixture into the saucepan until it forms a stiff consistency. 
• Stir in the vanilla essence to taste.
• Drop the mixture in small spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. 
• Leave them overnight to firm up.

Fry's Recipe Leaflet 1940