Aussie sweet treats for Valentines Day and Easter too!

Put the Peppermint bars into a plastic bag and hit with a heavy object to crush the bar into pieces.
Put the toffee almonds into a plastic bag and do the same as with the Peppermint bars.
Slightly soften the ice-cream so that it can be spread

Into a baking dish spread half the ice-cream until it is about 2.5cm thick. Sprinkle with the crushed Peppermint bars. Then top with the remaining ice-cream and sprinkle the crushed toffee almonds. Place into the freezer until the ice-cream is firm. Slice and serve.

You could also try making deep fried ice-cream balls with the ice-cream mixed with the crushed Peppermint bars.

The Cherry Ripe is Australia's oldest chocolate bar according to the Cadbury Australia website. It has long been a favourite of many an Aussie but as a kid I couldn't stand it. Now as an adult I like it very much and it is the only chocolate bar with dark chocolate that I actually like. The Cherry ripe bar is often advertised as the 'Romantic' chocolate bar and I have put the you tube link in the section below for you to view. The Cherry Ripe bar has cherry pieces and moist coconut covered in Dark Chocolate.

There are many recipes in Australia with a cherry ripe theme. Dan Lepard's cherry ripe bars recipe. Our baking guru recreates a chocolate bar that's just about every Australian's favourite childhood sweet. Dan says Though I can't match the original's secret ingredients, these bars should comfort any homesick Australians until they're reunited with their childhood sweetie." I have included a link to Dan's recipe in the link section.

The Australian Womans Day magazine has a recipe for Cherry Ripe Cheesecake which uses the Cherry Ripe bars and the Australian Womens Weekly has a Cherry Ripe Mudcake recipe. See the links below.

Abel Hoadley (born 10 September 1844, died 12 May 1918)[2] opened a jam factory in South Melbourne, Victoria, in 1889, trading as A. Hoadley & Company. By 1895, business had expanded rapidly and Hoadley built a five-storey premises, the Rising Sun Preserving Works. He produced jams, jellies, preserved fruits, candied peels, sauces, and confectionery and employed a workforce as large as 200. By 1901, there were four preserving factories and a large confectionery works. Hoadley had acquired the firm of Dillon, Burrows & Co. and extended his products to vinegar, cocoa, and chocolate. In 1910, the jam business was sold to Henry Jones Co-operative Ltd. and in 1913, Hoadley's Chocolates Ltd was formed.

The same year, Hoadley produced his first chocolate assortment and packed them in a purple box decorated with violets. The packaging was in tribute to his wife's favorite colour (purple) and favorite flower (violets). Within the box assortment was a piece of honeycomb that became so popular that Hoadley decided to produce an individual honeycomb bar.

This proved trickier than first thought, because as the pieces of honeycomb cooled, they absorbed moisture and started sticking together. This hygroscopic nature of honeycomb led Hoadley to eventually dip his bars in chocolate, to keep the honeycomb dry and crunchy. Thus, in 1913, the Violet Crumble bar was created.

Hoadley wanted to call his new bar just Crumble, but learned that it was not possible to protect the name with a trademark. He thought of his wife (Susannah Ann née Barrett) and her favourite flower, the violet, and registered the name Violet Crumble, using a purple wrapper with a small flower logo. It was an instant success.

Violet Crumbles are crisper in texture than Crunchie bars, with a slightly more marshmallow taste." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_Crumble

I found out when visiting this site that another one of my favourite chocolate bars "Bertie Beetles" were invented as a way to use up broken pieces of the honey comb.