Triple Chocolate Tiffin Recipe
Triple Chocolate Tiffin is a wonderful indulgent treat with milk, dark, and white chocolate that’s incredibly easy to make. Simply stir up the ingredients for the base (crushed biscuits and juicy raisins bound with melted butter, golden syrup, sugar, and cocoa powder), top with melted milk and dark chocolate, and decorate with white chocolate drizzle plus all three types of chocolate grated.
Chilled in the fridge, Triple Chocolate Tiffin should keep for up to a week. If you can resist its wonderful, rich flavour, of course.
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Any time is tiffin time. Well, according to Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond in British comedy classic Carry On Up The Khyber (1968) anyway!
Officially, tiffin was the tradition of a snack or informal light meal introduced to India by British colonialists. However, as it wouldn’t be a Carry On film without innuendo, you must make up your own mind about exactly what Sir Sidney was so keen on.
Anyway, in the real India tiffin evolved until it can now mean a sweet or savoury snack, packed lunchbox, or afternoon tea. In Britain today though, tiffin almost exclusively refers to an unbaked sweet treat based on crushed biscuits and chocolate.
Not having made it for ages, I was reminded earlier this year just how good chocolate tiffin can be. We were in north Wales for a week’s holiday and bought slabs of the stuff from a brilliant bakery in Conwy. Back home, it prompted me to make Easter chocolate tiffin, topped with cracked mini chocolate eggs.
It went down a storm, so I decided to make tiffin much more often. And my latest version is Triple Chocolate Tiffin that’s perfect for an indulgent but-oh-so-simple treat.
TRIPLE CHOCOLATE TIFFIN
I’ve called this recipe triple chocolate tiffin because it contains dark and milk chocolate plus a smaller amount of white chocolate. There’s also cocoa powder in there, but I guess that counts as dark chocolate too.
The tiffin has two layers. The base is a layer of crushed biscuits bound together with the cocoa powder and a few simple ingredients. When this has chilled a little, a layer of melted dark and milk chocolate goes on. Finally, we decorate with melted white chocolate plus a sprinkle of grated dark, milk, and white.
Making Triple Chocolate Tiffin requires very little hands-on time. As we’ll see though, if you allow for plenty of chilling time the results will be even better.
You’ll find a recipe card at the end with ingredient amounts and full instructions. But I recommend you read the whole of this post for extra tips and step-by-step images before getting started.
EQUIPMENT
I make all my tiffin in a 20 cm square baking tin. However, as it’s not going to be baked, you could use any suitable container such as a small plasticstorage box. I don’t recommend round containers though as they make it fiddly to cut into portions. You could use a smaller size tin if you want deeper tiffin pieces. Personally I wouldn’t go below 18 cm square or the tiffin could end up too thick to bite into comfortably.
So you can remove the tiffin easily, line the container with baking paper, foil, or cling film.
INGREDIENTS
For the base of my Triple Chocolate Tiffin, you’ll need approximately 300 grams of biscuits. I think shortbread is the nicest, so long as it’s made with butter and not nasties like palm oil. For the Easter tiffin mentioned above, I used homemade shortbread biscuits: a batch of my Orange Shortbread Biscuits with a teaspoon of vanilla extract substituting for the orange flavours. But for the tiffin you see in this post I found a reasonably priced supermarket own brand made with butter and no palm oil.
Digestive biscuits are another option. If you want to make your own, I recommend my popular Homemade Digestive Biscuits (increase the sugar to 75 grams if using for tiffin). Or, for a really special biscuit, how about my Chocolate Hazelnut Shortbread?
The remaining ingredients you’ll need are as follows.
- Raisins. For an occasional juicy, fruity hit.
- Butter. I only buy salted butter, but unsalted is fine if you prefer it.
- Golden syrup. For sweetness and binding the ingredients.
- Caster sugar. Adds crispness as well as sweetness.
- Cocoa powder. For a dark chocolatey flavour.
- Salt. I love a hint of salt with rich chocolate but leave out if you don’t.
- Chocolate. I’ve used supermarket own brand chocolate which works perfectly well in tiffin. I like the balance that milk and dark melted together brings to the topping, with a smaller amount of sweeter white chocolate used for decoration.
HOW TO MAKE TRIPLE CHOCOLATE TIFFIN
Because there’s a relatively high proportion of melted butter in chocolate tiffin, I think it should always be made a day in advance. This is so it can chill completely and give you the best firm texture. In fact, I usually find it’s even nicer two days after making. The flavours seem to meld even better, and the texture is lovely. If you really can’t wait though, 5 hours will do so long as you understand it won’t be quite as good.
STEP 1: MAKE THE BASE
To make Triple Chocolate Tiffin, start by breaking up your biscuits. I put them in a strong polythene bag, lay it down flat, then take a rolling pin and roll over firmly. Although it’s tempting to bash away, you’re much less likely to make a hole in the bag if you roll rather than hit. I like a combination of small crumbs with a few larger pieces of biscuit remaining.
Next, take a saucepan that will comfortably fit all the ingredients for the base. Add the butter first and place over low-medium heat until it’s just melted a little: this reduces the likelihood of the other ingredients scorching. Now add the golden syrup, caster sugar, cocoa powder, and a pinch of salt if using. Keep stirring until everything has melted to a dark shiny mass. Check there’s no undissolved sugar granules or lumps of cocoa powder, then take off the heat.
Tip in the crushed biscuits and raisins, then stir well until they’re all coated in the chocolatey liquid. Transfer the contents of the saucepan to your prepared baking tin, levelling and smoothing it with the back of a spoon.
Now put the tin in the fridge or freezer to chill. While it’s starting to firm a little on top, you can make the topping.
STEP 2: MAKE & ADD THE TOPPING
I melt the chocolate for the topping in my microwave but have included instructions in the recipe card for a top of the cooker method too. Break up the dark and milk chocolate into squares then put in a microwave save bowl or jug. I start with a 30 second blast, stir, then 20 seconds, then stir. After that I reduce the blasts to 10 seconds until nearly all the chocolate has melted. When there’s just a few small pieces left, keep vigorously stirring until they melt too. This way, rather than heating the chocolate until it’s all completely melted, you’re less likely to overcook it.
Take the tiffin base from the fridge or freezer and pour over the melted chocolate. Use the back of a spoon to spread it evenly all over the base. It then goes in the fridge to chill and harden before the melted white chocolate drizzle goes on. I don’t recommend speeding things up by using the freezer at this stage as the chocolate can take on a less attractive whiteish sheen.
Be aware that white chocolate melts more quickly than other types, so reduce the length and number of blasts accordingly. You could put it in a small piping bag or bottle to squeeze over the topping, butI just let the drizzle fall from the tip of a spoon.
Finally, I sprinkle over grated dark, milk and white chocolate. If you remember, chill your grater as well as the chocolate in advance.
Topping variation: you could separately melt equal amounts of dark, milk, and white chocolate and put blobs all over the chilled base. Use a fork or skewer to swirl them together for a marbled effect. Leave to set a little then sprinkle with grated chocolate.
STORING TRIPLE CHOCOLATE TIFFIN
As mentioned above, for the best taste and texture, you should ideally chill the Triple Chocolate Tiffin overnight. You can then cut it into pieces. I first cut it into two rectangles, then cut one of those into two long strips, then each strip into four. Repeat with the remaining half and you’ll get sixteen tiffin. I find the easiest way to cut it is to mark out a line first then lay a big kitchen knife (not your best one!) along the line and firmly hit it with a rolling pin.
To store, I put the tiffin in a tin which I’ve lined with fresh baking paper and return it to the fridge. I made the tiffin you see in this post on a Saturday morning, and it was lovely the next afternoon. But it was even nicer on Monday! The base had become firmer, and the chocolate topping was good and crisp. The flavours seemed to have melded even more perfectly too. But we were still enjoying it when we finished the tiffin later that week.
On day five it was still perfect with the shortbread losing none of its crunch. Although my tiffin has never lasted a whole week because we eat it all, I see no reason why it shouldn’t. If in doubt, you could store in the freezer instead of the fridge. But be aware that frozen tiffin may take on a whiteish bloom. It’s completely harmless but can spoil the look.
Such a delicious treat for so little effort, if you haven’t made tiffin, I hope you’ll give it a try!
If you’ve made my Triple Chocolate Tiffin, I love to know how it went. Please do leave a comment and recipe rating.
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Triple Chocolate Tiffin
An easy indulgent, no-bake treat with milk, dark, and white chocolate. Best made at least 1 day before you want to eat it, but should keep for up to a week chilled in the fridge.
For thicker tiffin, use a tin that's 18 cm2 or 19 cm2.
It's recommended you read the accompanying blog post before starting to cook. Use digital scales and metric measurements as these were used to test the recipe.
Ingredients
For the base
- 300 g biscuits (e.g. shortbread, digestives)
- 180 g butter (salted or unsalted)
- 65 g golden syrup
- 40 g caster sugar
- 25 g cocoa powder
- 1 large pinch salt (optional)
- 100 g raisins
For the topping
- 125 g dark chocolate
- 125 g milk chocolate
- 75 g white chocolate
- a few tsp grated dark, milk, and white chocolate (tip: chill your grater in the fridge as well as the chocolate before grating)
Instructions
Make the base
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Line a 20 cm square baking tin or similar with baking paper, foil, or cling film so it comes up the sides.
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Put the biscuits in a strong polythene bag or similar and roll over or hit with a rolling pin until you have a mixture of crumbs and larger pieces. Set aside.
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Put the butter in a saucepan large enough to fit all the ingredients for the base and place over low-medium heat.
When the butter has melted a little, add the golden syrup, sugar, cocoa powder and salt if using.
Stir until everything is melted into a smooth, shiny mixture with no undissolved sugar granules or cocoa powder then take off the heat.
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Stir in the crushed biscuits and raisins until they're completely coated in the chocolate mixture.
Transfer to the prepared tin, smoothing and levelling the mixture with the back of a spoon.
Put in the fridge or freezer to set a little while you make the topping.
Make and add the topping
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Break the dark and milk chocolate into pieces (NOT the white) and put in a microwave-safe bowl or jug.
Melt on full power in 10 - 20 second bursts, stirring between each one, until just a few small pieces of un-melted chocolate remain. Stir vigorously until completely smooth.
Alternative: on top of the stove. Melt the dark and milk chocolate in a heatproof bowl above a pan of gently simmering water. Stir constantly and make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl.
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Take the base from the fridge or freezer and pour the melted chocolate all over, using the back of a spoon to spread it evenly.
Transfer to the fridge (not the freezer this time) and leave to set a little while you melt the white chocolate.
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Break the white chocolate into pieces and melt as above: note that white chocolate melts more quickly so you may need fewer and shorter bursts in a microwave.
When the topping is somewhat firm and dry on top, drizzle over the melted white chocolate letting it drop from the end of a spoon.
Sprinkle over the grated chocolate.
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Transfer the tin to the fridge and leave until completely chilled. This is likely to take a minimum of 4 - 5 hours but it's best left overnight before cutting into squares.
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Stored in a container in the fridge, the tiffin should keep for up to a week.
Can also be frozen, although the top may develop a (harmless) whiteish colour.
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