Succès – Chocolate Salami Recipe

Growing up, my mom made a lot of French-influenced desserts like Charlotte (cake), cream puffs, and bûche de Noël (yule log). There were also various arrays of petit fours and mille feuille readily available (in bakeries) for anyone’s enjoyment. For years Syria and Lebanon were under French rule and so much of the French culture rubbed off on this part of the Middle East. Children learned (and still do) French in school, certain French words were adopted into the culture and Beirut has often been referred to as “the Paris of the Middle East.” So it was only fitting that food was also adopted into the culture. In fact, my family still refers to cake as “gateau.”

Today’s recipe is one of my favorite recipes from my childhood –  we always called this tasty dessert “succès” – translated as “success.” Probably because this dessert is successful regardless who makes it. Seriously, it’s that easy. I asked my mom for a little bit more info on this tasty dessert and she said it was a recipe that was passed down from a French friend of my grandmother’s.

The ingredients are amazingly basic and there is absolutely NO baking involved. It’s similar to the American version of a no-bake cookie only served frozen. And with completely different ingredients. Really, it’s just the no-bake part that’s similar.

These are the type of cookies to make when you have last minute guests coming over because they take about 10 minutes to throw together. So you mix the ingredients together, shape them into a log, throw the logs into the freezer, and an hour or so later, they’re ready to serve.

Can we get any simpler? I think not.

What is your favorite French dessert? Macarons anyone? And where did you get the chance to try this French sweet?

Update: I finally discovered what this dessert is called in other regions: Chocolate Salmi. And now that I think about it, it’s such a clever name!

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