An easy no-bake Christmas chocolate tiffin recipe made with dark and milk chocolate, crushed shortbread biscuits, dried cranberries, and orange zest. Finished with cute Christmas sprinkles on top!
It's a delicious no-bake chocolate treat, perfect for Christmas parties and festive buffets! You might also like my white chocolate tiffin!
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I've taken my popular easy chocolate tiffin recipe and turned it into a festive flavoured no-bake treat, with the addition of a few simple ingredients.
Kids and adults love this Christmas tiffin! You'll definitely need to make a double batch to keep up with demand.
👩🍳 Love tiffin? Try my easy Malteser tiffin next.
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✔️ Why you'll love this recipe!
- A festive no-bake chocolate treat.
- Easy and quick to make.
- Simple store cupboard ingredients.
- Make it ahead of time.
- Perfect for Christmas bake sales, buffets, and parties.
🛒 Ingredient notes
Shortbread Biscuits - crushed with a rolling pin into small pieces, leaving a few larger pieces for texture. Swap for digestives or ginger biscuits instead.
Butter - unsalted butter is best for tiffin.
Golden Syrup - substitute with clear runny honey if you can't get hold of golden syrup.
Chocolate - you'll need a mixture of dark chocolate and milk chocolate for the tiffin base, and milk chocolate for the topping.
Cocoa Powder - adds a richer chocolatey flavour to the tiffin.
Dried Cranberries - or swap for raisins or glace cherries.
Chocolate Chips - white chocolate chips look nice against the dark chocolate tiffin base.
Orange Zest- you'll need the zest of half an orange or one clementine.
Christmas Sprinkles - I've used gold stars, silver balls, as well as snowman and polar bear sugar sprinkles.
🔪 How to make Christmas tiffin
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post
One: Place the butter, golden syrup, and milk and dark chocolate pieces into a large microwaveable bowl. Microwave in 30-second bursts (stirring in between) until everything is melted together.
Two: Fold in the crushed shortbread biscuits, cocoa powder, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and orange zest, and mix until all the ingredients are coated in the chocolate mixture.
Three: Press the tiffin firmly into a lined tin (use the back of a heavy metal spoon to really compact it down).
Four: For the milk chocolate topping, melt the milk chocolate pieces (and a few drops of vegetable oil) in the microwave in 30-second bursts to ensure it doesn't go grainy. Spread the melted milk chocolate onto the tiffin base, sprinkle over the Christmas sprinkles, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.
Five: Take the tiffin out of the fridge 10-15 minutes prior to cutting it to ensure the chocolate topping doesn't crack.
Top Tips
- Add a few drops of vegetable oil to the milk chocolate topping to prevent the top from cracking when cut. Coconut oil can also be used.
- Another tip to avoid cracking is to take the tiffin out of the fridge about 10–15 minutes prior to cutting it into bars, which allows it to soften slightly.
- For neatly cut bars, use a long sharp knife, and wipe it clean with a paper towel between each cut.
- Line the tin with cling film (with overhanging edges). This makes removing the tiffin from the tin really easy.
🍴 Serving suggestions
Serve the Christmas tiffin at parties and buffets alongside other festive treats such as Christmas fairy cakes, chocolate orange brownies, mincemeat crumble slices, stollen muffins, and Christmas star biscuits.
📖 Variations
- Add 75 grams of chopped walnuts or pecan nuts for crunch and texture.
- Swap the dried cranberries for rum-soaked raisins or mincemeat.
- Try using different biscuits, such as ginger biscuits, rich tea, Oreos, hobnobs, or jammie dodgers.
- Stir in crushed honeycomb, smarties, mini daim bars, chopped Mars bars, and other chocolate candy.
- Add a glug of Baileys!
🥡 Storage
Make-Ahead - The tiffin can be made up to 3 days in advance.
Store - Tiffin bars should be kept in an airtight container in a cool dry place. If the weather is very hot, store the tiffin in the fridge to stop it from melting. It will keep for up to 5 days.
Freeze -Tiffin is freezer friendly. Place the cut bars into a freezer-safe container and freeze them for up to 3 months. Alternatively, wrap the whole slab in two layers of foil and freeze it as one big piece.
❓ Frequently asked questions
Although tiffin and rocky road a very similar no-bake chocolate treats, the main difference is that rocky road contains marshmallows, and tiffin, traditionally, does not.
It's believed that no-bake chocolate tiffin originated in Troon, Scotland in the early 1900's.
😋 More no-bake treats
- Chocolate Biscuit Cake
- No Bake Chocolate Orange Tarts
- Chocolate Cornflake Cakes
- Biscoff Rocky Road
- Biscoff Tiffin
- Kinder Bueno Tiffin
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Recipe
Easy Christmas Tiffin
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Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Cling Film
Ingredients
- 250 g Shortbread Biscuits crushed in a sealed plastic bag with a rolling pin
- 200 g Dark Chocolate broken into small pieces
- 100 g Milk Chocolate broken into small pieces
- 100 g Butter
- 150 g Golden Syrup
- 2 teaspoon Cocoa Powder
- 75 g Dried Cranberries
- 100 g White Chocolate Chips
- ½ Orange zest only
For the topping
- 200 g Milk Chocolate broken into small pieces
- ¼ teaspoon Vegetable Oil
- 4 tablespoon Christmas Sprinkles
Instructions
- Line a 20cm square baking tin with cling film.
- Place the butter, golden syrup, and broken milk and dark chocolate pieces into a large microwaveable bowl. Microwave in 30-second bursts (stirring in between) until everything is melted together.200 g Dark Chocolate, 100 g Milk Chocolate, 100 g Butter, 150 g Golden Syrup
- Fold in the crushed shortbread biscuits, cocoa powder, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and orange zest, and mix until all the ingredients are coated in the chocolate mixture.250 g Shortbread Biscuits, 2 teaspoon Cocoa Powder, 75 g Dried Cranberries, 100 g White Chocolate Chips, ½ Orange
- Press the tiffin firmly into a lined tin (use the back of a heavy metal spoon to really compact it down).
- For the milk chocolate topping, melt the milk chocolate pieces (and a few drops of vegetable oil) in the microwave in 30-second bursts to ensure it doesn't go grainy. Spread the melted milk chocolate onto the tiffin base, sprinkle over the Christmas sprinkles, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight200 g Milk Chocolate, ¼ teaspoon Vegetable Oil, 4 tablespoon Christmas Sprinkles
- Take the tiffin out of the fridge 10-15 minutes prior to cutting it, to ensure the chocolate topping doesn't crack.
Notes
- Adding a few drops of vegetable oil to the milk chocolate topping prevents the top from cracking when cut. Coconut oil can also be used.
- Another tip to avoid cracking is to take the tiffin out of the fridge about 10 - 15 minutes prior to cutting it into bars, which allows it to soften slightly.
- For neatly cut bars, use a long sharp knife, and wipe it clean with a paper towel between each cut.
- Line the tin with cling film (with overhanging edges). This makes removing the tiffin from the tin really easy.
- Add 75g of chopped walnuts or pecan nuts for crunch and texture.
- Swap the dried cranberries for rum-soaked raisins or mincemeat.
- Try using different biscuits such as ginger biscuits, rich tea, Oreos, hobnobs, or jammie dodgers.
- Stir in crushed honeycomb, smarties, mini daim bars, chopped mars bars, and other chocolate candy.
- Add a glug of Baileys!
Stephanie
Oh my goodness. That looks so delicious! I love orange and chocolate together. And the tiny snowmen are so festive and adorable!
Helen
I am a HUGE tiffin fan and I love this festive version of it. Great recipe!
Toni
Oh we tried it and my kids couldn't be more happy!! It was a huge hit! We will definitely add it to our holiday baking list!
Ieva
Love it! Enjoying my 4th (!!!) slice of the day now and I have no regrets! Delicious! Love the subtle flavour of orange in it. YUM!
Jen
Such an amazing holiday treat!! My kids enjoyed it!