Cranberry & Cherry Tiffin

I love chocolate tiffin, or refrigerator cake, or whatever else you might like to call this kind of nibble. It's quick to make and you can't really go wrong with a recipe that doesn't need baking, and basically just consists of sticking a load of stuff together with chocolatey goo.

In this recipe I replaced half of the usual digestive biscuits with spiced German speculoos biscuits, for a little festive spice (Lotus is the main UK make; Biscoff seems to be the US brand name for the same company). I also included cranberries, cherries, and candied orange peel, in somewhat higher than usual quantities. I do love dried fruits.

Anyway, with these amendments, it's basically Christmas in every bite. If you're looking for a more traditional recipe, try Jacqueline's chocolate tiffin.

This recipe is vegan assuming you use a vegan margarine rather than butter, and make sure that your biscuits are also vegan (Lotus/Biscoff brand are fine).

Festive Cranberry Tiffin Makes 18 bars (or 36 bite-sized squares)

For the base: 225g (8oz, 2 sticks) butter or margarine 4tbsp (cup) golden syrup 4tbsp (cup) cocoa powder 100g (4oz) digestive biscuits (or graham crackers) 100g (4oz) speculoos biscuits 100g (4oz) glace cherries 100g (4oz) dried cranberries 50g (2oz) candied peel

For the topping: 200g (8oz) dark chocolate 2tbsp golden syrup

1. Line a 12cm square, deep baking tin with parchment paper. 2. Melt the butter/margarine and syrup over a low heat, and stir in the cocoa powder. 3. Crush the biscuits with the end of a rolling pin. You want fairly small pieces; a

mixture from fine crumbs up to raisin-sized pieces is about right. 4. Chop the cherries into eighths. 5. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the crushed biscuits, cherries, cranberries,

and candied peel.

6. Add the melted cocoa mixture to the biscuits, and stir through. 7. Press the mixture down into the lined baking tin, and place in the fridge to chill. 8. To make the topping, melt the chocolate in a bain marie (or by your preferred

method) and combine with the golden syrup. 9. Pour the melted chocolate over the biscuit base, and use a spatula (or the back of a

spoon) to smooth out the chocolate until the base is evenly covered. 10. Chill overnight. 11. Use a large, sharp knife to cut the bars. I scored the surface before cutting (see

pictures, below) just to make sure I had marked out even-sized bars. Adding the syrup to the chocolate makes it much easier to cut without cracking the topping.