A delicious Christmas rocky road - or tiffin - recipe that's full of festive flavour and ingredients. It's not exactly healthy but it's definitely healthier than your average slice of rocky road and I've made it with vegan ingredients as well so my whole family were very happy with this.
Sometimes Christmas, or let's face it - the whole of December, feels like an endless procession of sweet treats.
From chocolate selection packs to mince pies and cakes to candy canes it's hard to avoid sugary food.
And my kids sure don't want to avoid it!
So wherever possible I try to make treats a little healthier.
This Christmas rocky road recipe uses dark chocolate, dried fruit and maple syrup. These are all healthier choices than some of the ingredients you'd normally find in rocky road.
But it still tastes amazing and to my kids this is as good a treat as any!
What's the difference between rocky road and tiffin?
Well, it's a matter up for debate really but I think that rocky road generally has marshmallows in it whereas tiffin does not.
So strictly speaking this is really tiffin, but I decided to call it rocky road as I'm not sure how many people know what tiffin is these days including my children!
No-one in my family noticed that this rocky road didn't contain marshmallows. The kids who (according to them) do not like dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds didn't comment on their inclusion either.
On the contrary it was hard keeping them from finishing off the whole batch of this healthier Christmas rocky road in one sitting.
Rocky road is very versatile
The beauty of rocky road is that you can pretty much substitute the ingredients for whatever you have available.
Don't have any mixed peel? Stick in some extra dried fruit.
Want to add marshmallows? Go for it.
Just keep the quantities similar to those in the recipe below and it'll turn out great.
You can also use whichever biscuits you wish - I used some vegan cinnamon biscuits that I had in the cupboard but digestives and rich tea biscuits also work well if you don't need to make this vegan.
You need to break the biscuits up so I wouldn't go for ones that are too crunchy as you're only making life harder for yourself.
More Christmas inspiration
- nut free coconut snowballs
- healthy gingerbread blondies
- apple and mincemeat pinwheels
- carrot Christmas loaf cake
- chocolate orange tiffin
- Christmas fruit salad
How to make healthier Christmas rocky road:
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Please do not reproduce this recipe without permission.
Healthier Christmas rocky road or tiffin
Ingredients
- 100 g dark vegan chocolate
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup
- 175 g dairy free spread or butter
- 325 g biscuits crushed (I used vegan cinnamon biscuits but digestives and rich tea biscuits work well if you're not vegan)
- 100 g mixed nuts and seeds chopped (I used almonds and pumpkin seeds)
- 50 g mixed peel
- 75 g dried cranberries
- 50 g raisins
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds optional
Instructions
- Grease a 20 x 30cm dish and line with baking paper.
- Melt 4 tablespoon maple syrup, 175g dairy free butter and 100g dark chocolate together. You can either do this in a tightly fitting heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water or in the microwave. If you opt for the microwave take it out and stir every 30 seconds and be very careful of the heat.
- Place 325g crushed biscuits, 100g chopped nuts or seeds, 50g mixed peel, 75g dried cranberries, 50g raisins, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 tablespoon chia seeds (if using) into a mixing bowl and combine.
- Pour the chocolate mixture over the dried goods and stir well.
- Transfer to your prepared dish, allow to cool and then put in the fridge overnight to firm up. You can speed this process up by putting it in the freezer for an hour.
- Once set cut into slices, place in an airtight container and store in the fridge.
Notes
Nutrition
If you like this you might like these healthy vegan gingerbread men.
Pin healthier Christmas rocky road for later
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Carolyn
Love this recipe. I left out the 'Christmas' flavours and added a little vanilla instead although I'm not sure it was necessary! I agree can't say it's healthy however making anything from your site makes me feel good! Just wondering (not a criticism) what is the purpose of the chia seeds? I put them in. Do they do something to improve the texture or are you just adding them because they're a seed? (I've seen them used as thickener for stewed fruit to make 'jam' instead of sugar.)
Mandy Mazliah
Hi Carolyn, glad you liked it and thanks for the kind words about the recipes. You're right about chia seeds - they're often used to make a healthy jam eg https://www.sneakyveg.com/mixed-berry-chia-jam/ - in this recipe they're here to boost the nutrition and you can leave them out if you don't have them/don't want to use them.
Kate Balcomb-Johns
Made this today. So delicious! I used coconut oil instead of vegan butter, and chocolate digestives and they really are very yum. My boys don't get sugar very often so this is certainly going to be a special treat. I made tge mistake of blending the biscuits in the processor. I should have used the rolling pin instead to make sure I had sine bigger biscuit pieces. But thanks Mandy xxx
Mandy Mazliah
I hope they enjoy it Kate
Kate - gluten free alchemist
That certainly does sound much healthier than the usual Rocky Road set of ingredients! I had the same debate with myself last year about what it is called..... I came to the same marshmallowy conclusion!
Either way..... Happy New Year and wishing you all the best for 2018 x
Mandy Mazliah
Either way the kids love it! Happy New Year to you too x