These little Shrek bites are a rather luminous shade of green. They are great for kids’ birthdays, or just a wacky after dinner dessert. The are sweet and somewhat close to Rocky road bars, but with a few adjustments. The usual Rocky Road bars are a basic recipe of Rich Tea biscuits, dark chocolate melted with butter, and marshmallows. This recipe is made with white chocolate, melted with cream cheese and matcha, then mixed with the Rich Tea biscuits, tart dried cherries, and meringues. I was hesitant when making this recipe that the mixture would not hold up on it’s own as a bar. This is why I made the malted biscuit crumble on the bottom. The crumble is about the only difficult thing to make in this recipe. Otherwise it is just a process of melting, chopping, and mixing.
The luminous green comes from Matcha. Which is the Japanese Green tea that is usually made into the green tea desserts that you will see around. It comes in powder form, and does not need to steep first. Matcha is usually a bit more expensive, but definitely a good ingredient to have in your store cupboard. I have another recipe for Matcha Lattes on this blog, and your green tea has multiple uses.
You can make this recipe and store in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week. Maybe longer.
Substitution chart
| Ingredient | Alternate option 1 | Alternate option 2 |
| Malted milk biscuit | Digestives | Graham crackers |
| Rich tea biscuit | Digestives | Graham crackers |
| Brittany butter | Unsalted butter with sea salt | Salted butter |
| Dried cherries | Dried cranberries | Dried blueberries |
| 2 18x18cm baking tins | 2 20×20 baking tins (increase ingredient amounts by 20%) | 1 20×20 baking tin (you will have less bars, but they will be deeper) |
Matcha Rocky Road Shrek bars
If you love Rocky Road bars, these are a fun and wacky interpretation of the classic. The sweet and smokiness of the matcha, combined with the savoury of the cheese and sweet of the white chocolate gives this version a rounder depth of flavour.
Ingredients
- 3 tsp matcha
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 300g white chocolate
- 180g cream cheese
- 3 meringue nests
- 100g dried cherries (I would recommend adding more)
- 100g mini marshmallows
- Sea salt, to taste
- 160g rich tea biscuits
- 225g malted milk biscuits
- 60g Brittany butter, melted
Directions
- Step 1 Prepare: Line – 2 15cm x 15cm square baking tins with parchment paper, ensuring that it goes up the sides as well. Then preheat your oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4 / 355 F.
- Step 2 Crush the digestives into a powder, then add them to a medium sized bowl. Add the melted butter and mix well.
- Step 3 Divide the mixture by half, and press into the bottom of each pan. Bake the crust for approximately 8 minutes.
- Step 4 While the crust is cooling, chop your Rich Tea biscuits into quarters, and part crush.
- Step 5 Put them into a medium bowl and mix well with your marshmallows, meringue nests, and dried cherries.
- Step 6 In a double boiler, melt your white chocolate. Melt the chocolate on a low heat. Once it has melted, add your vanilla essence, and cream cheese. Alternate between having the pot on and off the heat. You want to ensure that your mixture does not get too hot. Once this has completely melted and combined. Whisk in your Matcha powder.
- Step 7 Let your chocolate mixture cool lightly, then add to your dry ingredients and ensure that it is mixed well.
- Step 8 Divide the mixture into two, and press into the pans. Let the bars cool in the fridge overnight.
