I love our summer house more than words. I think it’s the prettiest place on earth and most of my happy childhood memories are from there. I’m also well aware that it’s not perfect; one of it’s imperfections is it’s oven: sure, it’s working, but only when it feels like it. And when it does, it’s temperamental and full of surprises.

As my parents have built two beautiful wood ovens outdoors, my mom is not really fussed about it; instead, she uses the kitchen oven almost with the same frequency she would if it was working properly, crossing nonetheless her fingers every time and hoping for the best. The one thing however she’s not nonchalant enough about making is desserts. Desserts are pretty much out of the question. And she’s fine with that since, as I’ve mentioned before, is the one thing she’s not great at.

So, with desserts doomed to destruction and two daughters constantly craving something sweet, she mastered a very popular Greek chocolate and cookie fridge dessert. It has many different names: Mosaic is my favourite, as it’s not only accurate, with the little cookie pieces neatly placed against a perfect chocolate wall, but also pretty impressive. It’s also called Trunk, Salami or simply and unimaginatively chocolate cookie dessert. It’s perfect on any occasion, especially in the summer, and even more so when you have a pain in the ass oven to work with. And most importantly, it’s pretty much made entirely of chocolate and cookies. And booze.

So here’s what we do: we melt a good amount of butter and then mix it with lots of cocoa powder and icing sugar. We break lots of cookies, combine them with salted roasted crunchy cassius. In the chocolate mixture they go; we get ourselves some good, strong brandy and add this too, for flavour and for a perfect punch. We lighten things up with some milk, break things down with a spoon and refrigerate.

And the late summer, damn it’s almost September message of the day is: love your oven, even when it’s not working. Love your oven, because it may lead to the most delicious, stupid easy, chocolatey and cookie-y dessert ever. And love summer too. Always love summer and its delicacies.

INGREDIENTS

250gr unsalted butter

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup icing sugar

1/3 cup brandy

1/3 cup milk 

about 25 hard biscuits, broken in small pieces (but not too small- I usually quarter them)

3/4 cup roasted salted cassius

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper, allowing for enough excess paper on each side, to cover the pan.

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat and set aside to cool.

In the meantime, break the cookies, combine them with the cassius and set aside.

Combine the melted and cooled butter with the cocoa, icing sugar, brandy and milk and mix well.

Add the broken cookies and cassius to the chocolate mixture and fold to cover all the dry pieces, breaking down the cookies more if necessary, to create a smoother mixture.

Pour the mixture into the lined loaf pan and cover with the paper, pressing down on the mixture to seal it.

Place in the freezer until solid.

Serve slices and then keep in the freezer.