How To Make Tiffin

I’m well known for my no bake slices. Just about every time we offer to take dessert somewhere, one will be requested. Which is great, as now my daughter can help out, and she loves doing that (even when it’s not always actually very helpful). Her attention span is short, but that doesn’t matter with this dessert as it’s so quick and easy to make. Here is a brief beginner’s guide on how to make tiffin…

What is Tiffin?

The same term is often used to describe an Indian-style light meal, which may be eaten at lunch-time or for afternoon tea. However it’s not that type we’re talking about here. We are talking Chocolate Tiffin.

Where my Tiffins began

It started, like many things, during my year in Australia. I first sampled Rocky Road over there, which is in my eyes very similar. My version is made with digestives, marshmallows, raisins and Rice Krispies, all of which are smothered in chocolate.

A bakery close to where I live also sold tiffin for years. They also offered Rocky Road, and their versions were also similar. It was one of my favourite cakes to buy at this particular store, and also fuelled my fascination with Tiffins.

What’s in a Tiffin?

I have a dozen or more different tiffin recipes now, and all are made in just the same way. Each recipe will contain the following:

Chocolate

Milk, dark or white chocolate, or sometimes a combination of dark and milk chocolate.

Biscuits

Second only to melted chocolate in terms of importance – as well as quantity. Often digestive biscuits are used, but I like to match the biscuit to the theme where possible. For instance, I use coconut Nice biscuits as well as Bounty bars in my Coconut and Cherry recipe. Malted Milk, Rich Tea, Ginger Nuts, Oreos, Jammie Dodgers… the list goes on.

Other ingredients

These vary by recipe. I have, for example, used Jaffa Cakes, glacé cherries, Maltesers, cornflakes, Mini Eggs and many more. I never use many of the ingredients other tiffin recipes contain. These include golden syrup and cocoa powder. So far, only my Rocky Road contains raisins.

Sprinkles

Some sort of decoration finishes it off nicely; normally I use sprinkles but this does vary by recipe. My malted tiffin, for example, is decorated with a white chocolate drizzle instead. Sometime the decoration is seasonal, such as with the Halloween tiffin pictured below.

How to make Tiffin

I use a basic formula to make a tiffin, as follows.

Preparation

• Prepare the ingredients first. Chop up the biscuits and any other ingredients that require it, and break the chocolate up into squares.

Melting

• Next, melt the chocolate. I always melt mine in the microwave, but you can use the traditional method of suspending a bowl over a pan of hot water if you prefer. If you do microwave it, checking and stirring often is the key. I start with a 30-second burst, then reduce this to 20, then 10 and keep going until it’s almost all melted. At this point I just give it a really good stir, and let the residual heat do the rest. It does ruin the chocolate if it’s overdone!

Mixing

• The next step is to mix it up. All you do is add the other ingredients, mix well, then spoon it into a suitable dish and smooth over. You can then add sprinkles if you like.

Chilling

• The tiffin needs to be chilled for a while – at least an hour or two. This is why it’s often known by other names such as refrigerator cake, fridge slice or fridge cake.

Slicing

• It’s best for remove the tiffin for a while to soften slightly before cutting, if you can. How long for really depends on the temperature – you don’t really want it to melt!

Serving

• Serve to guaranteed smiles all round. Honestly, I’m always amazed by the reception a tiffin gets, and it takes just minutes to make with no baking whatsoever.

Tiffin-making equipment

Here’s everything you’ll need to make a great tasting tiffin.

Kitchen Scales

• You’ll need kitchen scales to weigh the ingredients. I love a classic mechanical set of scales, as the bowl is great for piling biscuits into.

Chopping Board

We do love a bamboo chopping board, as it looks cool and is a nice size. You’ll need this to catch the crumbs as you chop! Place your biscuits on this after weighing and they’re ready for the next stage.

Sharp Knife

• We’ve had our Sabatier knives for over two decades, and they’re still going strong. Mister does use a knife sharpener on them regularly. This is used to chop up biscuits and chocolate bars, then again to cut up the tiffin once set.

Baking Paper

Lining the dish is a must to prevent the tiffin sticking. It’s so easy to get out of a dish lined with baking paper, whereas when I’ve forgotten – it pretty much must be eaten straight from the dish.

Ceramic Dish

I use a rectangular lasagne dish for making tiffin, as you can see in the pictures. Square ones are equally suitable.

Mixing bowls

A glass bowl is ideal for melting the chocolate, while a large ceramic bowl is perfect for mixing it all together without too much mess.

Airtight containers

You’ll need one or more airtight food boxes for storing the tiffin to keep each slice as fresh as possible. Not that it usually lasts for long!

Easy Tiffin recipes

As I said earlier, there are around a baker’s dozen versions of the basic recipe for chocolate Tiffin on this blog. Plus my version of Rocky Road. These fridge cakes require absolutely no baking. Click on the title to access each recipe.

Oreo Tiffin

Original and golden Oreos combine with cornflakes and chocolate in this easy no bake Oreo slice.

No Bake Millionaire Shortbread

This one does just what it says on the (baking) tin. All the taste of caramel shortbread with none of the fuss – and just 3 or 4 ingredients.

White Chocolate Tiffin

White chocolate combines with dried raspberries, strawberries or cranberries, Jammie Dodgers and shortbread to create this delicious sweet treat.

Honeycomb Tiffin

Who can resist a mixture of Crunchie bars, Rolos, Rich Tea biscuits and more chocolate?

Drifter Tiffin

This tiffin recreates the flavours and textures of the chewy, wafer Drifter bar – now sadly discontinued by Nestlé.

Orange Tiffin

Decorate this one with edible eyes for Halloween, or use gold stars at Christmas.

Malted Milk Tiffin

Maltesers, Mars Bars and malted milk biscuits smothered in chocolate. Go on. You know you want to.

KitKat Tiffin

Not just KitKats – there are pink wafers in this one too. Oh, and sprinkles…

Mint Tiffin

Dark chocolate, mint creams, matchmakers, Rich Tea and no baking sound good to you?

Coconut and Cherry Tiffin

This is based on an Australian Cadbury chocolate bar – the Cherry Ripe. How I wish they sold it everywhere here… sigh.

Ginger Tiffin

Ginger nuts, Jaffa cakes and dark chocolate. Great for Christmas. Or any day ending in ‘y’.

Christmas Tiffin

This one tastes of mince pies, and is specially made for the festive season.

Easter Tiffin

Strictly for spring, this one contains mini and Creme eggs plus fruit shortcake biscuits.

S’mores Tiffin

Marshmallows, digestives, chocolate and your choice of sprinkles.

Why make a Tiffin?

By popular demand

Why this, and not some other kind of cake, biscuit or dessert? Well while I also love to make cakes, trifle, cheesecakes and other puddings, tiffins are both a) the easiest to make and b) the most requested by other people. Really, this is a cheat’s version of home baking. Tray bakes without any need for an oven.

Cooking with children

They’re great when you’re cooking with kids too. The short time required means they’re less likely to get bored, and they can join in by mixing and spooning. If all else fails there’s some chocolate or biscuits close at hand to appease them with.

Make it your way

As these recipes don’t really require precise quantities or ingredients, it’s easy to adapt them to what you already have or what you prefer. Smothering a load of biscuits, chocolate bars, dried fruit or whatever in chocolate is pretty much guaranteed to taste good!

Try a Tiffin

Why not try one of my easy tiffin recipes today? The links to the recipes are above – simply click on the title to read the recipe. I guarantee you’ll love it. If not, do feel free to send the finished item to me for demolition…

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