Chocolate Mincemeat Tiffin (No Bake)

Chocolate mincemeat tiffin with cranberries is one of my favourite no-bake tray bakes around the festive period and a great way of using up a jar of mincemeat leftover from making mincemeat pies at Christmas.

These chocolate mincemeat bars are made by crushing digestive biscuits and melting together butter, syrup, milk chocolate, cocoa powder, mincemeat and dried cranberries. The cocoa powder is bitter so balances out the sweet flavours so it’s not too sweet!

The chocolate mincemeat mixture is mixed through the digestive crumb base and pressed into a baking tray. The tray is placed in the fridge to chill then topped with melted chocolate. As this digestive tray bake is set in the fridge, rather than baked, it is often called chocolate fridge cake.

Chocolate and mincemeat work well together in this digestive tray bake as the spices and citrus peel balance out the sweetness from the chocolate. I hate seeing anything going to waste and these chocolate mincemeat bars also happen to be a great way of using up mincemeat.

Where does chocolate tiffin originate from?

Chocolate tiffin originated in Scotland, where is was created by a bakery in Troon. It is a no bake chocolate tray bake that usually contains digestive biscuits, butter, syrup, cocoa powder and dried fruits.

As there is no actual baking involved as this is a fridge cake. Once the ingredients are melted together and mixed with crushed biscuits, the chocolate biscuit cake is set in the fridge.

What’s the difference between tiffin and rocky road?

These no-bake tray bakes are very similar. Biscuits are crushed together to form a biscuit crumb. Butter, syrup, chocolate and cocoa powder are melted together and added to the biscuit crumb to form a biscuit base. Tiffin tends to have less added to it and chocolate melted over the top, giving it a smoother looking texture.

With a rocky road the biscuits aren’t crushed up quite so much and remain in larger chunks of crumb. Also a lot more ingredients are added to the crumb base, including dried cherries, raisins, nuts and mini marshmallows. These additions give a rocky road a far rougher exterior – hence the name rocky road.

Why you’ll love this recipe:

• No-bake tray bakes like this chocolate biscuit cake are quick and easy to make.
• Digestive tray bake is a great first solo bake for kids who want to make something on their own.
• A great way to use up a jar of mincemeat leftover from making the mincemeat pies at Christmas.
• Make ahead as chocolate fridge cake can be stored for up to 5 days in the fridge.
• For Gluten free chocolate tiffin use a gluten free digestive biscuit and check the label on the milk chocolate to ensure it is gluten free too.

How to make Chocolate Mincemeat Tiffin Traybake:

• Look out all the ingredients, ready to start.
• Line the baking tray with baking parchment.

• Place the digestive biscuits into a large plastic bag, seal and bash up to a crumb using a rolling pin.
• Empty the crumbs into a large mixing bowl.

• Place 200g of the milk chocolate into a glass bowl and add the butter, syrup, cocoa powder, mincemeat and dried cranberries.
• Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water and stir until melted together.

• Pour the chocolate mixture over the digestive crumbs and stir until well combined.

• Tip the biscuit mixture into the tray and using the back of a metal spoon spread the mixture, taking care to even it out and press into the corners.
• Place the tray in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, break up the remaining 200g milk chocolate into a clean bowl and place over a pan of boiling water, stir until melted.

• Remove the biscuit tin from the refrigerator and pour over the melted chocolate.
• Return to the fridge until the chocolate has solidified before removing and cutting into squares.
• Once set, remove the tray from the fridge and the tiffin from the tray.
• Cut the tiffin into 20 even sized biscuits, place in an airtight container and store in the fridge.

Why use a bain marie to melt chocolate?

I like to melt the chocolate over a bain marie (a bowl set over a pan of boiling water) as this stops the chocolate from burning and splitting. Just add enough water to heat, but not touch, the bottom of the bowl. Also ensure you don’t allow any of the water into the bowl as the chocolate will seize and become grainy.

Recipe ingredients & substitutions:

• Digestive Biscuits – are my biscuit of choice as they have great flavour and a hard texture which works perfectly in these chocolate mincemeat bars. You could substitute Graham’s crackers or use a Gluten free digestive biscuit if making a gluten free chocolate tiffin.
• Milk Chocolate – is used in this digestive tray bake, but use any flavour of chocolate in this tiffin. Dark chocolate works a treat but you could also use flavoured chocolate, for example orange flavoured chocolate would work a treat with the mincemeat.
• Butter – I have used unsalted but you could also use regular butter. Do not be tempted to use margarine or butter blends as your biscuit simply won’t set properly.
• Golden Syrup – adds the sweetness, you could also use agave syrup or maple syrup if you prefer.
• Cocoa Powder – adds depth of chocolate flavour as well as bitterness to help balance out the other sweet flavours in this chocolate biscuit cake.
• Mincemeat – chocolate and mincemeat are a great flavour combination as the spices and citrus peel in the mincemeat work well with the chocolate.
• Dried Cranberries – pair really well with the other flavours in these chocolate mincemeat bars, but you can leave out if you prefer or substitute with another dried fruit (see list below).

Chocolate Fridge Cake flavour variations:

These no-bake tray bakes can be adapted to suit. Simply add additional ingredients to the crushed biscuit before you mix through the wet ingredients.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Dried fruits – glace cherries, raisins, sultanas, cranberries, blueberries, apricots
• Crushed nuts – almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, macadamias
• Spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice
• Biscuits – digestive biscuits, Graham’s crackers, ginger nuts, biscoff biscuits, shortbread
• Flavours – chocolate orange tiffin, chocolate mint tiffin, chocolate aero tiffin
• Decorate your chocolate tiffin – make chocolate tiffin with mini eggs or decorate with Terry’s chocolate orange pieces, smarties, maltesers, crushed up honeycomb.

TOP TIP: If you decide to add extra sweetness I would recommend increasing the cocoa powder a little to stop the whole biscuit becoming too sweet.

Can I make ahead Chocolate Mincemeat Tiffin?

Store chocolate mincemeat bars in the fridge or freezer.

• Fridge: once you have made the tiffin, place it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
• Freezer: cut the tiffin into portions, then place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.

Useful hints and tips:

1. The easiest way to crush the digestive biscuits is to place them into a plastic freezer bag, seal the top, then use a rolling pin to break them up. You can make the crumb as fine or as coarse as you want. I always opt for a fine crumb.#
2. If you want to reduce the sweetness use a 50:50 split of milk and dark chocolate in both the biscuit base and in the chocolate topping. The dark chocolate balances out the sweetness of the biscuit.
3. Line the baking tray with baking parchment as this makes removing the set chocolate tiffin a whole lot easier.
4. Use a sharp knife to cut the tiffin into squares as a sharp knife will stop the top layer of chocolate from cracking.
5. When layering chocolate fridge cake into the storage container, I like to place a sheet of baking parchment between each layer of biscuit to stop the tiffin from sticking to each other.
6. Make extra to freeze, double up the recipe and enjoy some now and freeze the rest for later.
7. To make gluten free tiffin ensure that the biscuits and chocolate that you are using is gluten free, just check the labeling before you buy.
8. Allergy advice: egg free, soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.

Pin the recipe:

Additional recipe suggestions:

For other ideas for simple bakes try some of these ideas:

• No-bake Chocolate Tiffin
• Dark Chocolate & Ginger Tiffin
• Dark Chocolate Orange Tiffin
• No-bake Mars Bar Slices
• Custard Creams
• Chocolate & Hazelnut Cookies
• Lemon Butter Biscuits
• Orange Butter Biscuits
• Chocolate & Pecan Brownies
• Tweed Squares
• Easy Bake Melting Moments

If, like us, you enjoyed baking then take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Baking with Kids, full of great recipe suggestions, hints and tips for baking with children.