Chef Thomas
All-Butter Shortbread Fingers
The plainest biscuit in the tin and the hardest one to stop eating, three ingredients and a slow oven turning good butter into something quietly perfect with a cup of tea.
Culinary Explorer
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Chocolate Tiffin
Created by Chef Thomas
A Scottish fridge cake of crushed biscuits, butter, syrup, and cocoa under a slab of set chocolate. No oven, no cleverness, just patience and a few hours in the fridge.
Pastries & Cookies
British
Potluck
Make Ahead
20 min
Active Time
5 min cook•PT25M plus 2 hours setting total
Yield16 squares
Tiffin belongs to rainy afternoons and the kind of day when you want something sweet but cannot face turning the oven on. It also belongs to summer, when the kitchen is already too warm and a fridge cake feels like the only sensible option. In truth, it belongs to whenever you want it. There is no season for tiffin. There is only the moment youdecide you want one.
It's a Scottish thing originally, though it has spread across the British Isles and become the kind of bake-sale staple every village hall knows. Famously it was the cake William chose for his wedding. A grown man asking for a chocolate biscuit cake at his royal wedding feels exactly right to me. Tiffin is what childhood tasted like for a lot of us, and there's no improving on a thing like that.
The method is barely a method. You melt butter with cocoa and golden syrup, you stir in crushed biscuits and raisins, you press it all into a tin and pour melted chocolate over the top. Two hours in the fridge and you have something. The hardest part is the waiting, and the second hardest is cutting it cleanly without snapping the chocolate into shards. Both problems can be solved with a hot knife and a bit of resolve.
I wrote it down in the notebook the first time I made it for my niece, who declared it the best thing I had ever made. I have made fancier things since. None of them have earned that review.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
digestive biscuits
Quantity
250g
unsalted butter
Quantity
150g
cubed
golden syrup
Quantity
3 tablespoons
cocoa powder
Quantity
3 tablespoons
golden caster sugar
Quantity
75g
raisins
Quantity
100g
glace cherries (optional)
Quantity
50g
halved
dark chocolate
Quantity
200g (60-70% cocoa solids)
broken into pieces
milk chocolate
Quantity
50g
broken into pieces
flaky sea salt
Quantity
pinch
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| digestive biscuits | 250g |
| unsalted buttercubed | 150g |
| golden syrup | 3 tablespoons |
| cocoa powder | 3 tablespoons |
| golden caster sugar | 75g |
| raisins | 100g |
| glace cherries (optional)halved | 50g |
| dark chocolatebroken into pieces | 200g (60-70% cocoa solids) |
| milk chocolatebroken into pieces | 50g |
| flaky sea salt | pinch |
Equipment Needed
- •20cm square baking tin
- •Heavy-bottomed saucepan
- •Heatproof bowl for melting chocolate
- •Rolling pin
- •Baking parchment
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Crush the biscuits
Line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment, leaving a generous overhang on two sides so you can lift the tiffin out later. Put the digestives in a sturdy freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin. You're not after dust. You want a mixture of rubble and gravel, some pieces the size of a fingernail, some smaller. The variety in texture is what makes a proper tiffin worth eating.
Resist the urge to use a food processor. It turns the biscuits to powder and you lose the bite. Bashing by hand is the whole point, and it's strangely satisfying. - 2
Make the butter mixture
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a low heat, melt the butter, golden syrup, cocoa powder, and sugar together. Stir gently with a wooden spoon. You're not boiling anything. You're coaxing it into a smooth, glossy chocolate sauce that smells faintly like a chocolate digestive in the oven. Take it off the heat the moment the sugar has dissolved and the mixture looks uniform.
- 3
Combine and press
Tip the crushed biscuits and the raisins (and the cherries, if you're using them) into the warm chocolate butter and stir until every crumb is coated. The mixture should look dark and slightly damp, holding together when you press a spoonful against the side of the pan. Scrape it all into the lined tin and press down firmly with the back of the spoon. Really press. The flatter and more compact you can make it, the cleaner it will cut later.
A small offset spatula or the bottom of a glass works well for getting the surface properly level. A wonky base makes for wonky squares. - 4
Melt the topping
Melt the dark and milk chocolate together in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally. When it's smooth and glossy, take it off the heat. Pour it over the pressed biscuit base and tilt the tin gently so it spreads into every corner. A spatula will help it along. The surface should be a deep, even chocolate brown, like the lid of a polished box.
- 5
Set and cut
Scatter a small pinch of flaky sea salt over the chocolate while it's still soft. Refrigerate for at least two hours, or until the chocolate is completely firm. Lift the tiffin out of the tin using the parchment overhang. Use a hot, dry knife to cut it into squares. Run the knife under hot water, dry it, cut, then repeat. The chocolate top will crack a little as you cut, in a way that looks right. Serve with a strong cup of tea.
Chef Tips
- •Digestives are traditional and right, but a mix works well too. Try half digestives and half rich tea, or throw in a few crushed ginger nuts for warmth. The biscuit is the body of the thing, so use ones you actually like to eat on their own.
- •Golden syrup is not optional and not interchangeable with honey or maple syrup. It has a particular caramel flavour and a particular stickiness that holds the whole cake together. If you don't have it, wait until you do.
- •Don't skip the pinch of flaky salt on top. It sounds like a small thing, but it stops the chocolate from feeling cloying and gives every bite a little lift. A teaspoon of instant coffee dissolved into the butter mixture works the same trick from underneath.
- •Tiffin keeps beautifully in the fridge for a week, which makes it the most useful thing to have in the house when people drop in. Cut it small. A square the size of a matchbox is enough. It is rich in the way only butter and chocolate together can be.
Advance Preparation
- •Tiffin can be made up to a week ahead and stored in an airtight tin in the fridge. The flavour deepens and the texture firms over the first day or two.
- •It travels well, which makes it ideal for potlucks and bake sales. Cut into squares, layer between sheets of parchment in a tin, and keep cool until serving.
- •Freezes well for up to three months. Wrap individual squares in parchment and then foil. Defrost in the fridge for a few hours before eating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 58g)
Calories
290 calories
Total Fat
15 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
6 g
Cholesterol
21 mg
Sodium
60 mg
Total Carbohydrates
27 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
19 g
Protein
2 g
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