This vegan tiffin is so rich and decadent. It’s super easy to make, packed with shortbread and raisins and topped with vegan chocolate.
Chocolate tiffin is a fabulous dessert that consists of a base of crushed cookies and raisins surrounded in rich chocolate with a thick topping of melted chocolate.
It’s a Scottish recipe that’s also very popular in Britain. When I lived in Dubai they sold vegan tiffin at an organic cafe and the moment I ate it for the first time I knew I had to make it for the blog.
This stuff is amazing!
Chocolate tiffin is usually made with digestive biscuits. And by the way ‘biscuit’ in Brit speak (or South African speak for that matter) means cookie.
But I’ve seen tiffin made with shortbread and various other types of biscuit (cookie).
So I decided to make it with vegan shortbread cookies since I couldn’t find any vegan digestives at the time.
This dessert is so rich and decadent you will absolutely love it. And it’s seriously easy to make as well and only takes minutes!
For more delicious dessert bars try our vegan blondies or our fudgy vegan brownies.
Ingredients You’ll Need To Make Tiffin:
Ingredient Notes
- Raisins – should be small and seedless. But even if you are not a big raisin fan don’t worry, the raisins incorporate so well into this dessert you hardly even know they’re there!
- Vegan chocolate – you can use any vegan chocolate or vegan chocolate chips. This gets melted down for the topping.
- Vegan shortbread cookies – you can buy these ready-made or you can make this recipe with homemade vegan shortbread cookies. We have tried this recipe with our homemade cookies and with store-bought cookies (as pictured) and both options work great! If you do prefer to bake your cookies from scratch using our recipe, then you can use the full batch of homemade shortbread cookies in this recipe.
- Maple syrup – or golden syrup or maple flavored syrup, or agave nectar or date syrup, all would work great in this recipe.
How To Make Vegan Tiffin
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add the vegan shortbread cookies to a ziploc bag and roll over them with a rolling pin. You want to crush them up but still leave some larger chunks of cookie in there.
- Add vegan butter, maple syrup, light brown sugar and cocoa powder and heat together on medium heat, stirring all the time until it has melted into a thick chocolate sauce.
- Remove it from the heat and add crushed shortbread cookies and raisins. Stir it in so that everything is properly coated.
- Transfer to a 9×5 loaf pan (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with parchment paper so that there is overhang on either side).
- Smooth down and place into the fridge to set (about 2 hours).
- When the tiffin has set, add your vegan chocolate or chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals bringing it out to stir every 30-seconds until melted.
- Pour the melted chocolate over the top of the tiffin and smooth it down.
- Place into the refrigerator to set (about 20 minutes).
- When set, remove the tiffin from the loaf pan using the parchment paper overhang. Cut into 10 squares.
- Your tiffin is ready to serve.
Recipe Tips
Leave the shortbread cookies chunky. You want to mostly crush them but still leave quite a lot of chunks in there, the chunks look so pretty in the tiffin.
Parchment paper. Line your loaf pan with parchment paper so that there’s overhang on either side. This makes it super easy to just lift the entire tiffin out of the pan when it’s set.
Double the recipe for 9×9 square pan. If you want to use a 9×9 square pan then you can double the recipe.
Gluten-free. If you’d like to make this recipe gluten-free then choose a gluten-free shortbread cookie or other similar type of cookie and you’ll be all set.
Storing and Freezing
Keep your vegan tiffin squares stored in the fridge and enjoy within 7 days.
It is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Let them thaw in the fridge and enjoy as usual.
More Vegan Dessert Bars
- Vegan Lemon Bars
- Vegan Rice Krispie Treats
- Vegan Bounty Bars
- Vegan Twix
- Vegan Oatmeal Bars
- Vegan Bounty Bars
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Tiffin
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Vegan Shortbread Cookies (226g) Homemade or store-bought
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup (60ml) or Golden Syrup
- 2 Tablespoons Light Brown Sugar
- ¼ cup Cocoa Powder (21g) Unsweetened
- ¾ cup Raisins (105g) Small, Seedless
- 6 ounces Vegan Chocolate (170g) or Vegan Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Add the vegan shortbread cookies to a ziploc bag and roll over them with a rolling pin. You want to crush them up but still leave some larger chunks of cookie in there.
- Add vegan butter, maple syrup, light brown sugar and cocoa powder and heat together on medium heat, stirring all the time until it has melted into a thick chocolate sauce.
- Remove it from the heat and add crushed shortbread cookies and raisins. Stir it in so that everything is properly coated.
- Transfer to a 9×5 loaf pan (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with parchment paper so that there is overhang on either side).
- Smooth down and place into the fridge to set (about 2 hours).
- When the tiffin has set, add your vegan chocolate or chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals bringing it out to stir every 30-seconds until melted.
- Pour the melted chocolate over the top of the tiffin and smooth it down. Place into the refrigerator to set (about 20 minutes). When set, remove the tiffin from the loaf pan using the parchment paper overhang. Cut into 10 squares.
- Your tiffin is ready to serve.
Notes
- Vegan shortbread cookies – you can buy these ready-made or you can make this recipe with homemade vegan shortbread cookies. We have tried this recipe with our homemade cookies and with store-bought cookies and both options work great! If you do prefer to bake your cookies from scratch using our recipe, then you can use the full batch of homemade shortbread cookies in this recipe.
- Gluten-free. If you’d like to make this recipe gluten-free then choose a gluten-free shortbread cookie or other similar type of cookie and you’ll be all set.
- Storing and freezing. Keep your vegan tiffin squares stored in the fridge and enjoy within 7 days. It is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Let them thaw in the fridge and enjoy as usual.
- Prep time is for hands on time only and does not include time spent setting in the fridge.
- This recipe has been updated with new photos and extra tips but the recipe itself is the same.
This recipe looks and sounds amazing, I can’t wait to try it! I may have missed it, but what size tin should i use for this?
Thank you
Hi Sarah, it’s a 9×5 loaf pan. 🙂
Great, thanks! I don’t think I have that size pan, but I guess as it doesn’t get baked in the oven, I could use anything!
Hi Sarah, yes you could really use any pan, so long as it doesn’t spread the tiffin too thin. 🙂
Delicious! We used Pure for our vegan butter, which must have been a bit too soft as they didn’t set initially. Adding some dark chocolate helped them set perfectly though.
My partner and I aren’t vegan, but this recipe sounded amazing so we tried it. Oh my, it was so, so good!! We used your shortbread cookie recipe as well and they’re also amazing!! The only substitution I made was using regular butter instead of vegan. It’s our new favorite dessert!! Loved it!!
Wonderful! Thanks so much Joyce!
I make these about once a month since I discovered the recipe. I find that I need to measure the syrup carefully or the base is super sticky. I wish I could find vegan mini marshmallows so I could add those too!
By the way, Scotland is in Britain – did you mean it’s a Scottish recipe that’s also popular in England?
So glad you enjoyed them Ginette! And yes, that is what I meant! 🙂
I made these with vegan freefrom chocolate, mix of two flavours and the biscuit with vegan homemade shortbread, chocolate is hard great@ but the base was so gooey and soft when cutting, how long does it take for base to go really hard? Very sweet lol great recipe thank you 🙂
Hi Julie, I’m not sure if that has something to do with the brand of vegan butter used that it doesn’t want to set super firm. Ours did set well so that’s my best guess because vegan butters can be very variable.
Just made this and it was wonderful! I replaced the raisins with bourbon biscuits (oops) and added a bit of soya milk to the chocolate so it wouldn’t be so hard. Worked a treat, thank you!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Bethany!
Great recipe! I made the shortbread cookies from your recipe and I had to resist eating the lot before making the Tiffin!
I made one substitute – agave in place of the golden syrup. The base is super soft so I wonder if that’s because of the substitution or if that’s just the way it’s supposed to be!
Hi Scarlett! It isn’t supposed to be super soft at all, I’m not sure how much of a difference the syrup would have made though. Hope it’s still delicious!
“It’s a Scottish recipe that’s also very popular in Britain”.
Welllll…..this is awkward! 😀
Comedic geopolitical gaff aside, the recipe is a great starting place for experimentation.
For the chocolate topping, i’ve used a mix of plain dark chocolate and orange flavoured chocolate, and holy God that came out fantastic.
Haha not sure what you mean! This is according to the internets! ???? I did also live in Britain. But anyway – glad you enjoyed the recipe and that does sound good! 🙂
I have made the chocolate tiffens … gorgeous… how long will they keep in the fridge…or should I freeze them???? I need them for a party in a weeks time!!!
Hi Sue, probably better to freeze them if you want them to be great in a weeks time. They would probably be fine that long in the fridge, but not at their absolute best. So glad you like them! 🙂
Could you do raisins and dried cranberries instead of just raisins? Thanks!
Yes! That would be great! 🙂
The recipe is simple and delicious, so much so that I have already made it three times in about a month. I strongly recommend it.
Haha so pleased to hear that Mel! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Made these this week to give to my Church staff team (some vegan people and some not) and they loved them! Great recipe, thank you!
Wonderful! Thanks so much for posting! 🙂
This is a wonderful recipe – I’ve made it a few times now, and added other things like cherries and chocolate chips. It never lasts long when I take it into work! Everyone loves it!
Awesome! Love your additions! 🙂
I just tried making this – it looked so good and easy. For the most part it was, but the amount of the “sauce” wasn’t enough for the amount of cookies. So it doesn’t really cut into proper squares, it’s too crumbly for that. But it still tastes good! I’ll definitely make it again, and either use less cookies or make more of the sauce.
Hi Nancy! That’s so weird, did you use shortbread cookies or digestives? Glad to hear it still tastes good though! 🙂
Hi – I used vegan ‘petit beurre’ cookies (options are limited where I live). I used the 250 grams the recipe called for. Would the type of cookie make a difference like that?
No matter – this recipe is a keeper!
Hi Nancy, I wouldn’t have thought so before, but maybe so! Maybe that type of cookie absorbs more of the sauce so more is needed (or less cookies). That is just a guess though! Thanks for posting, it’s helpful info!
This is a must!
Indeed is a must ! I might try it tomorrow as our Sunday dessert 🙂