Normally, when I go to a lunch or dinner at a friend’s house I take some chocolate brownies. But it has been so hot here in Adelaide that there was no way I was putting on the oven. No way at all.

I don’t really do a lot of no-bake desserts so I was at a bit of a loss, until I was around at my parents’ house and my dad had made some sort of peanut-chocolate-biscuit bar thing that he’d seen on a Nigella Lawson program on TV (I don’t know which one – whatever is on TV at the moment … does anyone know?!).

Of course, being dad he had changed things and me, being me and hating peanuts and all (seriously – they’re not even NUTS – that really winds me up) a few things had to change further. I had a search around the internet and found a few recipes and had a discussion with him about what he had done and not done and I was ready to go.

Begin by melting 200g of dark chilli chocolate with 90g of salted butter and 1 tbsp of golden syrup. If you’re looking for speed here, you’ll do that in the microwave! And my top golden syrup hint is to coat your spoon in a flavourless oil (I used peanut) – that way the syrup will slide off effortlessly and you won’t have a sticky mess to clean up.

Once the chocolate is melted, stir in a generous pinch of salt. I used ½ tsp which, with the salted butter, might be a tad too much for some (it makes the finished product very moreish, I have to say). Then mix in about 150g of roughly chopped nuts (I used raw macadamias, my dad is on to using hazelnuts and I think brazils would work a treat too – so use your favourite nut). Finally stir in 170g of chopped KitKat. Here again, I used this because I love KitKats and 170g is the size of the big bar you can buy. I used the milk KitKat but my dad maintains you have to use the dark. But use your favourite chocolate bar – because a Violet Crumble mixed through it would be awesome too!

Grab a baking tray, cover it with baking paper, spread the chocolate mixture over it and pop in the fridge for at least 4 hours – preferably overnight. If the weather’s stupidly hot, a quick sojourn in the freezer won’t do it any harm (particularly if you have to transport it).

Once it’s set, cut or break into bite size pieces and enjoy.  Aside from the setting time, this is really quick and painless to make – if it’s late at night and you need to make something for a shindig the next day … this is it!