Serves 16
With crunchy nuts, chewy dates and silky chocolate, these chocolate tiffin bars are full of texture as well as totally addictive. They’re the perfect treat to have on hand to feed any hungry home schoolers or satisfy that afternoon snack craving at your desk, and a great way to use up any spare nuts, biscuits or chocolate you might have lurking about. I used gluten-free oat biscuits when making these, but you could use any biscuit you like - or even granola works well.
Ingredients
50g of hazelnuts
100g of pistachios
150g biscuits
50g of medjool dates, stones removed
350g best-quality dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids) broken into pieces
50g coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon sea salt
50g of dried cranberries
Method
Lightly grease and line a medium loaf tin.
Put the hazelnuts and pistachios into a small pan and toast, stirring continuously, over a low heat for 3-4 minutes. You want them to turn slightly golden and to start to smell toasty and delicious. Keep your eye on them because they can turn and burn quickly. Set aside and leave to cool.
Break the biscuits up into chunks with your hands and roughly chop the dates.
Fill a small saucepan with water and put on a medium heat. When the water is simmering, turn down the heat to low and place a heatproof glass bowl on top, making sure the bottom doesn’t touch the water. Add the chocolate and coconut oil, stirring them every so often to encourage them to melt and combine, then once melted, carefully remove the bowl and turn off the heat. Stir through the vanilla extract and sea salt.
Roughly chop the nuts and combine them with the biscuits, dates and cranberries. Pour the dry ingredients into the chocolate, stirring until everything is thoroughly combined. Spoon the mixture into your loaf tin and press down with the back of a spoon to compress tightly.
Place in the fridge to set. Once set, slice into bars or squares and serve, keeping any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
