Like much of the world I am spending most of my time at home at the moment.

As we are trying to avoid supermarket visits it is an ideal time to see what is lurking in the distant recesses of the fridge, freezer and store cupboard. We’ve actually had some surprisingly good meals by getting inventive and creative with what we already had on hand.

We like to bake as well as make chocolates and candy, so we usually have quite a few bags of nuts, dried fruits and other baking ingredients on hand, as well as chocolates ranging from white and milk through to 100% cocoa dark. On inspection a few of these have gone past their best by dates. Only by a month or two and they are still usable but now seems the ideal time to use them up.

So what better than a recipe that easily enables us to combine a few of these items into a delicious sweet treat.

If you’re planning to use expired products it is best to use some caution. Best by dates are primarily used by retailers to manage quality and stock rotation and when a product reaches that date it doesn’t necessarily mean that it suddenly turns bad. Things like dried fruits and dried pulses can often be eaten safely for some time after their dates. Nuts contain oils and can turn rancid over time so need a little more care. This article is a good guide to sell by dates. If somethings looks or smells suspicious or you have any doubt just toss it.

Back in Britain the term “tiffin” is often used to describe a confection where biscuits or dried fruit are added to melted chocolate and chilled until set. In other places it is sometimes known as a fridge or icebox cake. It is a very forgiving recipe and is a good way to use up odds and ends of chocolate, biscuits/cookies, dried fruit and nuts that you have sitting in your store cupboard.

There are no hard and fast rules for making tiffin. Detailed below is the method I use and the ingredients I used for this particular one but you can just experiment and have fun with whatever you have on hand.

You can use whatever chocolate you happen to have. If possible I like to use a mix of milk and dark chocolate. For this one I used a 50:50 mix of 38% cacao milk and 64% semisweet dark chocolate, both from Guittard.

I usually use around 16 to 18oz of cookies, fruit, nuts, candy etc. added to 12oz chocolate. To add smoothness to the mix I add butter and some form of sweetener such as golden syrup, agave or honey. If you don’t have these things you can still come up with something delicious. It’s hard not to if you start off with chocolate and some tasty additions.

Store Cupboard Tiffin

6oz dark chocolate

6oz milk chocolate

2oz butter

4oz golden syrup

8oz toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

3.5oz raisins (soaked overnight in 2 tbsp rum)

2.5oz crystallised ginger

Salt

The evening before you want to make the tiffin, mix the raisins with the rum and leave to soak overnight.

Line an 8×8″ baking pan with parchment paper.

Place the butter, syrup and a pinch of salt in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt together over low heat, stirring frequently.

Add the milk and dark chocolate to the pan and stir continuously until smooth.

Add the nuts, raisins and ginger to the chocolate mix and stir well to ensure that everything is coated.

Spoon the mixture into the lined baking tray and carefully spread it until level.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cutting into generous chunks and enjoying.