Cadbury Dairy Milk Fingers Tray: why the tray matters

A chocolate finger is coated on every surface, so each one can mark or stick to its neighbours, and the tray exists to stop that happening. Understanding the coat explains everything else: how they taste, why they will not dunk and why a warm kitchen is their enemy.

Chocolate first, biscuit second

A chocolate digestive carries its coating on one face, so the biscuit takes the lead and the chocolate plays a supporting part. A Dairy Milk Finger is covered all over, which flips the balance: far more chocolate for each gram of biscuit, and a thin, plain centre that gives crunch without asking for attention. It is a biscuit named after a chocolate, the Dairy Milk that Cadbury launched in 1905.

The published ingredient list for this barcode starts with milk, wheat flour and sugar, and the label states wheat, milk and soya, with a may-contain warning for nuts. The long, slim shape matters too. It carries the most chocolate for the least biscuit, and it is the easiest shape to lift out one at a time, which suits a tray set on a table.

Tray or box

We stock Dairy Milk Fingers in two sizes: this 189g tray and a 114g box. The smaller box suits an afternoon for two and a pot of tea. The tray is the one for a gathering, an office meeting or a family visit, when the fingers are going to sit out on the table and be picked at over an hour or two.

The tray holds each finger upright and separate, so they arrive looking like themselves rather than scuffed. Once it is open, close the pack back up and store it in a dark cupboard, not on the worktop beside the kettle or on a sunny windowsill. With chocolate covering every side, a warm spot softens these far sooner than a biscuit with a single coated face.

Serving them with tea or coffee

Skip the dunk. The chocolate shell is what holds each finger together, and hot tea strips the shell first, leaving a soft stick in your hand and a film of chocolate on the tea. These belong on the plate beside the cup. If dunking is the point of your tea break, a plain or chocolate digestive is the better choice from the tin.

With nothing salty or bitter inside the biscuit to push back against the sugar, the balancing falls to the cup. Brew a strong breakfast blend a minute longer than usual and leave the sugar out. With coffee, a short black espresso does the same job. In the evening, a gentler brew from our decaffeinated range keeps the pairing going after dinner.

The packs we stock

• Cadbury Dairy Milk Fingers Milk Chocolate Biscuits Tray, 189g (barcode 7622201450366)

What the label says

The published ingredient list for Cadbury Dairy Milk Fingers Milk Chocolate Biscuits Tray, 189g (barcode 7622201450366) says it contains wheat (gluten), milk and soya, and it may contain nuts. Ahead of ordering the tray, look at the latest British pack, since the makers may adjust the recipe and its allergen guidance.

Ingredients, as published: milk, wheat flour (with calcium, iron, niacin, thiamin), sugar, vegetable fats (palm, shea, sal in varying proportions), cocoa butter, cocoa mass, partially inverted sugar syrup, emulsifiers (e442, soya lecithins, e476), salt, raising agents (ammonium carbonates, sodium carbonates), flavourings. May contain nuts.

Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The tray in your hands has the last say.

What to drink with it

• Barry's Tea Gold Blend, 80 Tea Bags 250g: a sturdy, full bodied blend that, brewed long and taken with milk, cuts through a very sweet coating.
• L'Or Espresso Ristretto Coffee Pods, 10 Pods 52g: a short, intense coffee whose bitterness is exactly what milk chocolate lacks.
• Yorkshire Tea Bedtime Brew, 40 Tea Bags 100g: a gentler evening cup from our decaffeinated range, for a tray still going round after dinner.
• Clipper Fairtrade Everyday Tea, 80 Pack 232g: an everyday blend for the big pot when the tray is passed round a room.

Elsewhere in the Cadbury range

• Cadbury Animals Multipack Mini Chocolate Biscuits, 5 Biscuits 99.5g
• Cadbury Dairy Milk Fingers Milk Chocolate Covered Biscuits, 114g
• Cadbury Dairy Milk Fingers Salted Caramel Flavour Biscuits, 114g
• Cadbury Fingers White Chocolate Covered Biscuits, 114g
• Cadbury Mini Fingers Multipack Chocolate Biscuits, 5 Biscuits 96.5g
• Cadbury Snack Chocolate Covered Shortcake Multipack Biscuits, 5 x 20g

The full range is on the Cadbury brand page.

FAQ

Should I buy the tray or the box of Dairy Milk Fingers? The 189g tray for a gathering or a table that will be grazed over; the 114g box for an afternoon for two.

Why do chocolate fingers stick together? Warmth. They are coated on every side, so a warm room softens the chocolate and neighbouring fingers fuse. Keep the tray cool and dark.

Can you dunk Dairy Milk Fingers? Not successfully. Hot tea melts the shell that holds each finger together, so eat them beside the cup.

What allergens are in Dairy Milk Fingers? The label for this barcode lists wheat, milk and soya and warns that they may contain nuts. The current pack is the final word.

What tea goes best with chocolate fingers? A strong, unsweetened breakfast blend brewed a little longer than usual, because the biscuit has nothing bitter or salty to balance the sugar.

Curator's note: Put them out still in the tray rather than tipped onto a plate. They keep their shape, nobody's hand touches the rest, and the tray quietly empties itself. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Cadbury Dairy Milk Fingers Tray: why the tray matters

More from the tea wiki

• Tea and Biscuits
• Biscuit Dunking Physics: The Real Science
• Tea Pairing Principles: Reason, Don't Memorise
• Tea With Cake: The Pairing That Never Fails (If You Get It Right)
• Tea and Food Pairing: The Five Principles
• Tea with Chocolate: Pair by Cocoa Percentage
• Tea and Chocolate Pairing

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