Rich and buttery, this dark chocolate tiffin is bursting with dried and candied fruits. A real treat for adults and kids alike.
My daughter Kipper loves helping out in the kitchen, but when she was little, her enthusiasm definitely outweighed her skill! As a result, the recipes we made together needed to be fairly straightforward. Also, in the name of maintaining enthusiasm, there needed to be delicious spoons to lick, and tasty end results.
Chocolate tiffin – an indulgent treat
With all of that in mind, we created these simple melt-and-stir fruity chocolate tiffin squares. I love chocolate tiffin, because it’s so easy to make and you can customise it by adding all kinds of goodies to the basic mixture. In this case, I spotted an opportunity to use up some of the dried and candied fruits that were lurking in my pantry!
We’d brought a selection box of dried and candied fruits back from a holiday in Italy. Despite my nibbling away at them, there were still quite a lot left! Also, my baking cupboard is typically groaning with dried fruit of many different kinds. It’s good to keep everything moving and reasonably fresh.
A cornucopia of fruit!
When preparing to make this tiffin, we got everything out, and realised we had ten different sorts of dried and candied fruit! They were:
- Dried apricots
- Candied pineapple
- Dried figs
- Candied citrus peel
- Dried mango
- Sultanas/raisins
- Dried papaya
- Candied kiwi
- Dried cranberries
- Glace cherries
Goodness me! I had no idea that such a range of preserved fruits was available.
Other tiffin ingredients
Of course you can’t make tiffin with dried fruits alone! However chocolate tiffin is a wonderful treat that comes together easily from things you’re likely to have at home. As well as the dried/candied fruits, you’ll also need:
- Dark chocolate
- Butter, or vegan spread if you want the tiffin to be vegan/dairy free
- Plain biscuits – I like to use shortbread, petit beurre or rich tea, but any plain biscuit will do
- White chocolate for decoration – you can get dairy-free white chocolate, or you can skip this altogether!
Chocolate tiffin = Kitchen fun
Just as I’d hoped, the first time Kipper and I made this super-fruity chocolate tiffin, we had a great time! She tried her hand at a new job – pulverising biscuits to crumbs in the mini chopper – and also had a go at chopping some of the softer fruits with a not-very-sharp knife.
Naturally, she came into her own for the stirring, and again for the spoon licking.
Now she is bigger, she can pretty much manage the whole thing herself. Hooray!
Thinly spread
I spread the chocolate tiffin mixture quite thinly, as I guessed that it would be quite rich! It’s about 1cm (½ inch) thick, and I cut it into 16 pieces. Small, but perfectly formed!
After the chocolate tiffin had set in the fridge, we gave it a thin layer of dark chocolate and some white chocolate drizzle for decoration. You can skip the white chocolate, but I do think it looks nice, don’t you?
Chocolate tiffin – with tea, coffee, or whatever…
We very much enjoyed our tiffin with a cup of tea for elevenses, and Kipper loves to have a small square in her lunchbox – it’s mostly fruit, right?! It makes a lovely after-dinner treat with a cup of coffee or a glass of something stronger, too.
Gifting your tiffin
A fancy box of these pretty tiffin squares would be a very welcome gift. Make some for birthdays, for your Mum for Mothers’ Day, or as a sweet and heartfelt thank-you. They’ll always be appreciated!
Makes 16 small squares.
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📖 Recipe
Super fruity chocolate tiffin
Ingredients
- 150 g dark chocolate
- 50 g butter or vegan margarine
- 110 g plain biscuits e.g. shortbread or rich tea
- 150 g mixed dried and candied fruits e.g. dried apricots, figs, raisins, cranberries, candied pineapple, glace cherries etc.
To decorate
- 50 g dark chocolate
- 15 g white chocolate (optional)
Instructions
- Break the chocolate into squares and place in a large heatproof bowl with the butter/vegan spread. Melt them together, either in the microwave on low power, or over a pan of simmering water.Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper or baking parchment.
- Smash the biscuits into coarse crumbs. You can do this in a mini-chopper, or else put them in a bag and bash with a rolling pin. Cut up any larger fruits into small pieces – about the size of a raisin.
- Tip the biscuit crumbs and chopped fruits into the melted chocolate mixture and stir well to get everything thoroughly mixed. Spread the tiffin mixture out onto the prepared tray, to a thickness of about 1-1.5cm (½-⅔inch).
- Place the tiffin in the fridge for a few hours until completely set.
To decorate
- Melt the dark and white chocolates separately.
- Spread the dark chocolate over the tiffin in a thin layer. Drizzle the white chocolate over to give a decorative effect.
- Leave to set, then use a hot knife to cut the tiffin into squares to serve.
Nutrition
More chocolate treat recipes
If you enjoyed this tiffin you should also try these melt-and-stir chocolate biscoff crispy cake bites, these 3-ingredient Nutella shortbread biscuits, or these delicious double chocolate muesli cookies.
I am entering this delicious chocolate tiffin recipe into the following:
Let’s cook for mothers day at Simply Sensational Food.
Treat Petite, organised by Cakeyboi (who also hosts this month) and The Baking Explorer. Tea Time Treats, organised by Karen at Lavender & Lovage and Janie at The Hedgecombers (who is hosting this month) on the theme of biscuits & cookies. And, since I managed to use up a whole load of odds and ends of dried fruit, the No Waste Food Challenge, hosted by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary.
Julie Menghini
Chocolate tiffin with such a variety of dried fruit sounds wonderful. I can see snacking on this with a nice cup of tea in the afternoon.
Helen
Thanks Julie. It’s a great afternoon snack – perfect with a cuppa when your energy levels are flagging a bit.
Toni
This is so good!! My kids couldn’t stop eating these!
Helen
That’s great to know Toni. I’m glad you all enjoyed it.
Deanne
I can’t wait to make this fruity chocolate treat with my children. I love all the options you provided!
Helen
Thanks Deanne – I hope you have fun making it 😀
Kacie Morgan
I love a bit of tiffin! I haven’t tried it with dried fruits before but I reckon it would be just as delicious, not to mention healthier.
Helen
Thanks Kacie. I hadn’t actually thought about it being healthier, but I suppose you’re right! All those added vitamins and minerals and extra fibre – delicious and good for you too 😀
HedgeComber
Wow, they look chocka full of taste and I could just do with a piece or two of this right now!
Thanks so much for sharing with Tea Time Treats 🙂
Janie x
Helen
Thanks Janie, they were really yummy. Bit gutted they’re all gone now!
Stuart
LOVING the new look! Thanks for entering your tiffin into Treat Petite Helen. Perfect Mother’s Day treat 🙂
Helen
Thanks Stuart! And thanks for hosting 🙂
Angela Moore
I love tiffin and I really like the fact that you have used some of the more unusual dried fruits.
Angela- Garden Tea Cakes and Me
FFF
Thanks Angela. I’d never seen some of these dried fruits before – we brought them back from holiday with us. They were all delicious though!
fabfood4all
Oh I love this tiffin and think I might make it for my mum as I have so much dried fruit in the cupboards and have been wondering how to use it up. Fab recipe – thanks for sharing:-)
FFF
Thanks Camilla. It certainly is a good one for using up odds & ends of dried fruit! I hope your mum enjoys it 🙂
Anne's Kitchen
I think I probably have a reasonable collection of random dried fruits in the depths of the baking cupboard, though candied kiwi is a new one on me! Great idea to combine with lovely chocolate to make tiffin!
FFF
Thanks Anne. This is a great recipe for using up all those odds and ends. I’d never had candied kiwi before either – excitingly, even though I’m increasingly allergic to kiwi, the candied kind seemed fine. Hurrah!
Mayuri Patel
that’s truly a delicious fruity chocolaty treat for mums.
FFF
Thanks Mayuri 😀