Cranberry and White Chocolate Tiffin

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great New Year’s Eve.

We had a lovely evening, my parents came over for dinner and then we played Monopoly! Nothing like good old board games 🙂 I completely lost and my Dad ended up owning 3/4 of the board and having 3/4 of the money, but it was fun!

Since NYE was so fun, I’m hoping 2013 is going to be really good. I’m up to my eyes in Uni work at the moment, but by the end of January I’ll have given everything in and be able to have a week off, which I’m so looking forward to.

I’m not one for making New Year’s Resolutions, I believe you have to truly want to do something before you’ll do it, so if you just say it because it’s a new year, invariably you’ll probably give up, I always used to say I would lose weight, but until I actually truly wanted to I always failed and slipped back into bad habits eating take outs. When I was finally ready, one day in Summer, that’s when it actually started. I do hope that this year I can continue to improve and learn to not feel so guilty if I have a bad day or treat myself to a piece of chocolate.

I’m still struggling with Uni and still think I’m wasting my time and money, but I’ve decided to look at it a different way. Someone who studied at my Uni came back in to talk to us and she said nothing she learnt has come in useful, so I’m going to do as they say even though I think it’s rubbish and I’m obviously just paying for a bit of paper. It’s horrible to feel so unhappy doing something, but I’m really trying to just get my head down and do the work 🙁

Anyway, unfortunately I’m going through one of my phases… I want to play The Sims non stop, but I can’t so I have to play for about 2 hours at night when I’ve finished Uni work for the day and that’s it at the moment! I’ve finally given in and moved on to The Sims 3!! Haha, it’s taken me long enough. I think I still prefer Sims 2 for the fact you can have as many families as you want in a neighbourhood and the fact I have loads of custom content. However, I think I prefer TS3 for the reality and the fact you can customize things more when you build a house. They even have to do laundry now! I have a family with 4 children and there’s always washing to be done and it’s hard work having 4 kids even if it isn’t real. I have no idea how Mum’s look after all their children, I take my hat off to you, I find it difficult in a game!

Suppose, it’s a good job I’m not maternal in the slightest as I’m probably never going to have to deal with the stresses of parenthood.

Anyway I made some tiffin, I’ve been meaning to for ages as it sounded delicious, but I finally decided to when I saw a sign for it at a coffee shop. It didn’t disappoint! It was delicious and my parents loved it too 🙂

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Makes about 12 pieces (depending on how you break it up)

Recipe adapted from A Passion for Baking by Jo Wheatley

Ingredients:

> 125g butter
> 2tbsp golden syrup
> 2tbsp malted milk powder (I used Horlicks)
> 1tbsp sugar
> 250g digestive biscuits
> 100g dried cranberries, plus extra to garnish (I used Craisins)
> 500g good quality white chocolate (I used Green and Blacks)

Method:

> Grease and line a 9 x 9 inch cake tin. The original recipe said a 30 x 23 cm tin which I used, but there was nowhere near enough to fill it, so next time I’d use a 9 x 9 one.
> Place the butter, golden syrup, malted milk powder and sugar into a small saucepan.

> Place saucepan over a low heat until butter is melted and stir until everything is mixed well.
> Whilst the butter mixture is melting, place the digestives into a large ziploc bag and then, with a rolling pin, crush them, leaving some bigger bits, no need to crush them until everything is fine and like breadcrumbs.
> Pour the biscuit rubble into a medium sized bowl.
> Pour the melted butter mixture over the biscuits and stir until everything is coated well. Add in the Craisins and mix until well incorporated.
> Tip into the greased cake tin and spread, until you have an even layer with a spatula or wooden spoon.

> Leave the biscuit base to cool and set, about 2 hours.
> Once fully cool, place the white chocolate into a heatproof bowl and melt until smooth, either in the microwave or over a saucepan of simmering water, whichever you prefer.
> Pour the melted chocolate over the biscuit base and smooth with a spatula. Sprinkle some Craisins on top and then leave for 2-3 hours to set.
> Once set, remove from cake tin and then cut into pieces. You will need a sharp knife, but as you cut the tiffin, it will break into all sorts of shapes which I think looks much better than perfect squares! 🙂
> Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.