Millionaire’s Shortbread

I love this stuff, but have always struggled to get the caramel filling right, and end up with it oozing out and the chocolate sliding off the top. I found this recipe in a magazine, and altered it to work with my imperial scales! I apologize for the random mix of imperial and metric, the stuff I need to measure has to be in imperial, but the stuff which requires a whole tin or packet is in metric ’cause that’s the way it’s labelled up!

For the shortbread base:

1 1/2 oz sugar

5 oz butter (use real butter, not margarine)

6 oz plain flour

1 oz rice flour

You can either dump all the ingredients in the food processor, whizz it until it looks like fine breadcrumbs, then gently knead it into a soft dough. Or, you can mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, rub in the butter and then knead into a dough. Whichever way you choose, once the dough is formed, press it gently into a a square (about 9×9″), lined tin to make an even base. Prick the shortbread well with a fork and then bake at 160°C for about 35 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove it from the oven and set aside to cool. Meanwhile…

For the caramel filling:

6 oz butter

6 oz sugar

4 tbsp golden syrup

1 397ml tin condensed milk

Place all ingredients in a pan and heat gently, stirring often, until the butter and sugar has melted. Turn up the heat until it begins to bubble gently (NOT a rolling boil!). Stir constantly for 5 – 8 minutes, until it starts to get thick and fudgy. At this point, you will be stirring up brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Don’t panic!! This is where the sugar is catching a little. As long as you keep stirring to prevent burning, it will be fine. The brown bits will stir in and by the time it’s cooled and set they will have disappeared. Once you think it’s thick enough, pour it over the shortbread base and put it in the fridge to set for a few hours.

Once the caramel has cooled and set, it’s time for the chocolate topping. I used plain chocolate, which is traditional, but I think maybe half plain half milk would also work. You don’t really want all milk as it would just be far too sweet.

For the topping:

300g plain chocolate (or 10 1/2 oz!)

There are a few different ways of melting chocolate. If you have a microwave, break the chocolate into a heat-proof bowl and nuke for 20 – 30 seconds. If, like me, you don’t have a microwave, you can do it the old-fashioned way. There are 2 ways of doing this. So many choices! The proper way is to half-fill a pan with boiling water, then place a bowl (ideally pyrex) over the top of the pan so the water doesn’t touch the bowl. Put the chocolate in the bowl and stir occasionally until it’s all melted. Personally, I think this is an awful lot of messing about. I use a small plastic bowl and set it in a pan of boiling water, stirring until the chocolate has melted. As long as you don’t let it burn, any of these methods get the job done!

Spread the chocolate over the caramel and return to the fridge to chill. Once the chocolate has hardened, turn out onto a board and cut into squares. I got 16 pieces from mine, but you really wouldn’t want more than one piece at a sitting. Please enjoy responsibly!!