Malteser tray bake
This Malteser tray bake makes thick squares of chocolate biscuit goodness, with finely crumbed biscuits covered in melted chocolate and crunchy Maltesers scattered throughout. Its a chocolate lover’s dream!
My entire family love this tray bake, and especially my son who loves it more than he loves cake!
This is a fuss free indulgent treat that requires only 5 ingredients. You don’t even need an oven!
This Malteser tray bake:
- Requires minimal effort but tastes absolutely delicious
- Does not require baking
- Only requires 5 ingredients
- Is perfect for making ahead of time because it needs time to set in the fridge
- Contains no egg and no nuts.
Essential ingredients for your Malteser tray bake
- Digestive biscuits – I use Mcvities Digestives, but any plain biscuit would work well. You could also try malted milk biscuits or shortcake too. Most of the biscuits will be ground to a fine crumb but we will keep some larger pieces for added texture. If you are baking these for someone with an egg allergy, luckily the majority of plain biscuits are egg free (but cookies often contain egg.)
- Maltesers – Maltesers are the star ingredient of this recipe. They go into the main mixture and are scattered on top too. Maltesers have a wonderful light and crunchy texture that just works really well for baking. You could actually use any chocolate that you have in the cupboard, as long as it has a bit of crunch. Mini eggs or Crunchy bars would also work really well in this. Maltesers are egg free!
- Good quality chocolate – Use a good quality chocolate because there is a lot of chocolate in this recipe! It holds everything together and the taste of the chocolate really comes through. I use an ordinary cook’s milk chocolate for the mixture, because I find that it melts very well, and Lindt milk chocolate on the top because the taste is lovely and rich
- Unsalted butter – I always use unsalted butter in baking so that there is no salt overpowering the taste
- Golden syrup – Golden syrup is a British classic, and it helps to make the mixture sticky and bind together the biscuits and Maltesers. If you are in the US, you can use a combination of light corn syrup and molasses to get a similar taste and texture.
I like to sprinkle a little sea salt over the top too, but this is optional.
These ingredients melt together to create a deliciously chocolatey traybake with a range of textures, from crunchy maltesers to soft chocolate covered digestive pieces.
Top tips!
Melt the chocolate very slowly in a large bowl, over a pan of gently simmering water, ensuring the bowl does not touch the water. Stir constantly, and remove the bowl once the chocolate is glossy and smooth. This will ensure the chocolate doesn’t overheat and become lumpy and unusable.
Use a very sharp knife to get a clean cut on your tray bake. Leave the tin to warm up a bit after removing from the fridge (around 30 minutes ideally) before cutting.
Troubleshooting
Is this Malteser tray bake egg free?
Yes, this tray bake can be enjoyed by anyone following an egg free diet.
Can this Malteser tray bake be made vegan?
Yes, this is pretty easy to make vegan and is just as delicious. Swap out the Maltesers for a vegan alternative like these, and swap the chocolate for your favourite dairy free chocolate bar. For the butter, use a dairy free spread. Digestives are naturally vegan!
What are Maltesers?
Maltesers are an incredibly popular chocolate snack in the UK. Maltesers themselves are small honeycomb spheres covered in milk chocolate. They’re quite light which makes them easy to eat and super addictive. In the US, Whoppers are the closest alternative if you can’t get hold of Maltesers.
What is a tray bake?
Tray bakes are deliciously simple bakes, such as cakes, brownies and bars, which are baked in a single tray and cut into squares. This Malteser tray bake isn’t actually baked, but I still think the description fits well! Some people call this dessert a Maltesers tiffin.
How long does Malteser tray bake keep?
It will keep well for up to 3 days in an air tight container at room temperature. However I think it will get devoured instantly once your friends and family have tasted it!
If you love this tray bake, check out these other quick and easy chocolate tray bakes:
Malteser tray bake
- Total Time: 4 hours 25 minutes
- Yield: 16 squares 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This Malteser tray bake makes thick squares of chocolate biscuit goodness, with finely crumbed biscuits covered in melted chocolate and crunchy Maltesers scattered throughout. Its a chocolate lover’s dream!
Ingredients
- 220g digestive biscuits
- 200g Maltesers
- 300g milk chocolate
- 120g unsalted butter
- 40g golden syrup
Instructions
- Line a 15cm x 15cm cake tin with greaseproof paper.
- Place 150g of the digestive biscuits into a food bag and seal or tie the top of the bag. Using a rolling pin, bash the digestives until they are fine crumbs.
- Transfer the crumbs into a large bowl. Break up the remaining 70g of digestives so that you have some larger biscuit pieces.
- Add 150g of the Maltesers to the bowl.
- Melt together 200g of the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a bowl over a lightly simmering pan of water, ensuring the bowl does not touch the water. Stir constantly, and as soon as the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the heat.
- Leave the melted chocolate mixture to cool for around ten minutes. Stir the melted chocolate into the bowl with digestives and Maltesers.
- Stir well and press the mixture into the prepared tin.
- Melt the remaining chocolate in the same way as in step 5, or in short bursts in the microwave. If melting in the microwave, stir the chocolate after every few seconds so that it doesn’t burn.
- Pour the chocolate over the digestive and Malteser mixture.
- Place in the fridge covered with cling film, for at least 4 hours, but ideally overnight.
- Cut into squares with a very sharp knife.
Notes
Baking tips
Melt the chocolate very slowly to avoid it burning. You can either do this through short bursts in the microwave, or by placing the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, ensuring the bowl does not touch the water.
Once set, allow the tray bake to sit out on the counter for 30 minutes. This will make it much easier to cut into bars.
Storage
This tray bake will keep well for up to 3 days in an air tight container at room temperature.
It can also be frozen in an air tight container for up to 3 months. Bring back up to room temperature before serving.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: British
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/16
- Calories: 270
- Sugar: 17.9g
- Fat: 15.2g
- Carbohydrates: 30.2g
- Protein: 3.5g
Keywords: chocolate traybake Malteser
If you cut this tray bake into 16 squares, there are 296 calories in each square.
Yes, it will freeze well in a zip lock bag for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature until it is completely thawed.
In this recipe, I place the Maltesers in a zip lock bag and gently smash the contents with a rolling pin. You could also place the Maltesers in a food processor and break them up this way.
Sadly, Maltesers do contain gluten, which is due to the wheat and barley content. You could use Schar’s gluten free alternative for this recipe if you need to find an alternative.
These are delicious.
★★★★★