Thursday 22 September 2011

Chocolate Tiffin (Vegan)

slices of chocolate covered vegan tiffin
My kids love chocolate tiffin (biscuit cake/refrigerator cake) and are old enough to make this on their own now. I decided to earn some good mum points today though and made some on my afternoon off work, so they would be ready to eat as an after dinner treat. 
  • 200g/8oz crushed vegan digestive biscuits (Graham crackers)
  • 100g/4oz dairy-free spread (not reduced/low fat)
  • 2 tbsp soft brown sugar
  • 4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 4 tbsp golden syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (or your choice of coffee, peppermint, orange extract etc)
  • 100g/4oz chopped dried fruit (I used raisins, glace cherries and apricots)
  • 100g/4oz dairy-free chocolate, melted.
Crush the biscuits in a plastic bag, using a rolling pin, or use a food processor.
Put the spread, sugar, cocoa, and syrup in a bowl and melt on a low setting in the microwave. Stir well.
Add the flavouring, dried fruits and crushed biscuits.
Mix until all the biscuit crumbs are coated.
Pour into a greased square baking tin and press down well with the back of a spoon.

Melt the chocolate on a low setting in the microwave.
Pour over the biscuit base and spread, with the back of a spoon, to cover.
Chill in the fridge.
Cut into squares when cold.

Keeps for up to a week in an airtight container.

Not suitable for freezing.

Alternatives: you can really use any plain biscuits in this recipe such as rich tea, shortbread, Nice etc. or use a combination if you wish. 
Swap the dried fruits for chopped nuts or seeds, if preferred.
Gluten-free option: swap the biscuits for a gluten-free variety.

Top Tip: This is a good recipe to use up left over Christmas or Easter chocolate.

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22 comments:

  1. Oh wow, excellent, thanks for this post! I'm allergic to eggs and intolerant to milk, and so always on the lookout for yummy recipes I can make and this is definitely going on my list! :-)

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  2. Yum - so simple and so effective.

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  3. Inspired by the cooking blog of my wife I made a website for calculating calories and nutrients of recipes.
    Based on 10 servings, your lovely recipe comes up to 240 calories. (http://caloriesinformation.com/recipes/chocolate-tiffin).
    Feel free to use the service for any recipe you want.

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  4. Hope you like the recipe.
    Calories info...that's really interesting, I thought they'd be worse than that!

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  5. Oh this looks good! I always presumed tiffin involved A LOT more chocolate, but I already have most of those ingredients. Reminds me of making chocolate fridge cake in Guides. :)

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  6. Hi
    Just wondering why you advise not to use reduce/low fat spread? I am trying to lose weight and wanted to make these as a treat and using low fat spread cuts the calorie/ fat content in half! I am going to make little balls and then drizzle/dip in choc, under 100 cals each

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  7. Hi Anon, low fat spread contains a higher percentage of water, so the tiffin won't set as well and may taste soggy. By all means try it, but they may collapse!

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  8. I'm such a sucker for chocolate, so I can't wait to try this out myself! :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi. Thanks for this! looking forward to trying it out. Just one question: when you say dairy-free chocolate to melt over the top, do you mean dark chocolate or a milk chocolate alternative, like soya? If the latter, are there any brands you can recommend? I've been looking for a decent dairy-free milk chocolate that can be melted for baking or just eaten!

      Thank you :)

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    2. Hi Joey, I use a dairy free dark/plain chocolate, but if you want a milk chocolate alternative, try Moo dairy-free: http://www.moofreechocolates.com/

      Delete
  9. Mine turned out so tasty but too soggy and didn't hold together well after hours in the fridge. The only way I changed the recipe was that I used honey instead of maple syrup. Could this be why? I've put it in the freezer now to see if that helps but now I've just read it's not suitable for the freezer ooops. Any tips?

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    Replies
    1. Did you use a lower-fat spread/margarine? Honey should have worked.
      The dried fruit needs to be chopped to help hold everything together, so maybe you could try this, if you didn't chop your fruit?

      Delete
  10. I wanted to make these for my sister's birthday and then remembered that she's supposed to be doing slimming world. Any idea how many syns there would be in a slice? Maybe she could ration them carefully.

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    Replies
    1. About a million. Call them energy bars and say that they'll boost her metabolism ;-)

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  11. just made these tonight with dates/raisins, g&b 85% dark chocolate and pure butter. it is SO GOOD. thank you! even better than the lazy day tiffin i buy in the free from section of sainsburys.

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    Replies
    1. Glad you liked them Annie. I must make them again soo.

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  12. Can I ask why they wouldn't be suitable for freezing? Doing a vegan buffet for an event and these would be ideal for making in advance

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    Replies
    1. Because the chocolate can look dull after freezing. It shouldn't affect the taste though.

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  13. Many thanks for posting this. In my last job we had "cake Mondays" where we took turns to make a cake and bring it in. It also had to be vegan, which was a challenge for us. I made a crazy version of this (over double the above recipe) and it became known as my "slab cake", apparently the most dense material known to the human race (according to colleagues). I made it again earlier with some alterations. This time the recipe was:

    450g crushed choc chip hobnobs (which I have always used)
    300g chocolate (to put on top. 200g would have been fine :P)
    200g spread
    60g cocoa powder
    200ml golden syrup (this and the cocoa powder are roughly double your recipe, but I wanted to convert them to metric units)
    200g sultanas

    The chocolate on top is a bit too thick but I think it should be a hit with the volunteers and my colleagues tomorrow. I'll take pics of it when it has set properly. Thanks :-)

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    Replies
    1. Wow Mark, my colleagues would love that too.

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    2. Feel free to post a picture on my Facebook page if you can.

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