Chocolate tiffin

Last week I had a Pi Phi Alumnae Club meeting, and it was wine & cheese & dessert. I wanted a dessert that was a little unusual, and chocolate tiffin fit the bill. I'd wanted to make chocolate tiffin since my weekend in London during my summer in Provence. It's a kind of cake or cookie bar made of crushed "digestive biscuits" that's popular with British children. I think it's similar to Prince William's groom's cake from the royal wedding, so if that isn't motivation I don't know what is.

These are digestive biscuits. I found them in the ethnic foods aisle at Publix, which I thought was funny.

It's an easy recipe and it makes a ton. I had decided to double it for some reason, which means that I had leftover tiffin to bring to tailgating and to lunch at work every day. Extra chocolate has never been a problem ever, but I think one times the recipe makes plenty. It feels so indulgent to make because of the melted chocolate. And of course you have to lick the spoon...

You have to be careful with melting chocolate, and what cooking blog would this be if I didn't warn you? I used my shiny new double boiler. You can also rig up a double boiler with two saucepans, or melt it for a few seconds at a time in the microwave.

My other question with this recipe is if there should be more butter and Karo syrup to the crushed biscuits. That's basically the glue that holds the cookie crumbs together. I could have crushed the biscuits into smaller pieces--you really want crumbs!--and that may have been my problem with biscuit pieces crumbling off and making it a little messy. But it could also maybe use a little more butter.

Chocolate tiffin
Crush 8 oz Rich Tea biscuits into really small pieces. Melt 4 oz butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons Karo syrup and 4 teaspoons cocoa. Add the biscuits and (optional) 1 handful of raisins. Mix and pour into a jelly roll pan or something similar.

Meanwhile, melt 4 oz milk chocolate and 4 oz dark chocolate. Pour the melted chocolate over the biscuit mixture.

Let the tin set in the frige for at least an hour. Cut into pieces to serve.