I love millionaires shortbread, I get it every time I go to Starbucks. They call it a caramel slice though…but I think they’re the same thing.
Even though I love it, I’ve never made a recipe on it, this is not ok. So here we are.
The shortbread layer of these was so soft, the caramel was sweet and chewy, and the chocolate was…chocolate, it was just regular chocolate I don’t have much to say. But everything together was SO GOOD, you should make this immediately.
Video Tutorial
The shortbread
The first thing we are going to make is the shortbread layer. This is going to be the only thing we need to bake.
These are the ingredients you will need to make the shortbread:
- Unsalted butter
- Icing sugar – also known as powdered sugar. I like to use this instead of regular granulated sugar, I feel like it gives a smoother tasting shortbread, if that makes sense. But you can replace this with granulated sugar if you want to.
- Vanilla extract
- Plain flour – also known as all purpose flour.
- Corn flour – also known as corn starch. I like to add this because it gives a softer, crumblier shortbread.
- Salt – to enhance the flavours.
Can I leave the corn flour out?
Again, I like to add some corn flour because it gives a softer crumblier shortbread.
If you didn’t have any, or if you want a shortbread that is more firm, then yes you can leave the corn flour out.
In the recipe card below, you will see that I used 240g of plain flour and 40g of corn flour.
If you are leaving the corn flour out, use 280g of plain flour instead.
Baking the shortbread
You want to bake the shortbread in an 8 inch tin, in an oven that has been pre-heated to 180c/350f.
I baked mine for around 35-40 minutes.
One thing I’ve learnt about shortbread, the timing really varies depending on your oven.
So the best way to know if it is baked is by the way it looks. It should be a very light golden colour, and it should feel a little firm to the touch.
For me that took around 35-40 minutes, but it could take a few minutes extra, or a few minutes less for you.
The caramel
Once the shortbread has been baked, you can move onto making the caramel.
This is a super easy caramel to make, you just throw the ingredients into a pan and heat it.
These are the ingredients you will need for it:
- Unsalted butter
- Condensed milk – we’re going to use 1 can, this is around 397g.
- Granulated sugar – caster sugar works too.
- Golden syrup – I’ve learnt that golden syrup is not really a thing in the USA, so corn syrup is the best alternative.
- Salt
A few tips when making the caramel
Don’t stop stirring
Even though this caramel is easy to make, it can burn easily.
So during the cooking process, don’t walk away. You want to be stirring it constantly.
Keep the heat on medium to low
Again, it can burn easily, so don’t put your heat on high. It’s best to heat it slowly.
Don’t let the caramel get too dark
The caramel is ready once it turns a light amber/caramely colour.
The darker this caramel gets, the chewier it will be.
We don’t really want it to be too chewy for millionaires shortbread, so a light amber colour is the goal. Once it gets to this point, pour it over your baked shortbread.
The chocolate
The last layer is the chocolate.
I used a mixture of dark and white chocolate. I just melted this, added this on top of the set caramel, and swirled it around.
I really recommend using dark chocolate.
I think dark chocolates works great in desserts, especially a dessert that has caramel. The dark chocolate really helps cut the sweetness; it stops the dessert from tasting overly sweet.
But if you really don’t like dark chocolate, you can use whatever kind you want!
Leaving the millionaires shortbread to set
YOU NEED TO LEAVE THIS TO SET.
The caramel needs to fully set and also the chocolate needs to set.
So don’t try skipping this, it will cause a disaster if you try cutting the shortbread too early.
I personally think it sets much better at room temperature, so I just leave it to set at room temperature over night.
But if you don’t want to wait this long, this is ok. You can just let it set in the fridge for about an hour. Then finally you can cut it into pieces and eat it.
Here are a few other recipes I’ve posted recently, you should try these too:
Millionaires Shortbread
Ingredients
- For the shortbread:
200g unsalted butter, softened
100g icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
240g plain flour
40g corn flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
- For the caramel:
100g unsalted butter
1 tin condensed milk (around 397g)
50g granulated sugar
50g golden syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
- For the chocolate:
180g dark chocolate (or milk chocolate)
80g white chocolate
Directions
- Making the shortbread:
- Start by pre-heating your oven to 180c/350f. Also grease and line an 8 inch square cake tin.
- In a large bowl, add the softened unsalted butter, icing sugar and vanilla. Beat these together for 5 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, corn flour and salt. Add this into the butter/sugar mixture and mix until a dough forms.
- Add this into your prepared tin and spread it out. The easiest way to do this is to wet your hands and press the dough down.
- Bake at 180c/350f for around 35-40 minutes, or just until it starts to turn a light brown colour on top. Once baked, leave aside to cool.
- Making the caramel:
- In a large pan or pot, add all the ingredients for the caramel, except the salt.
- Place this onto low heat and keep heating this, whiles stirring, until the butter has melted and the sugar has fully dissolved. You will know when it has dissolved when you can no longer see any grains of sugar.
- Increase the heat to medium, DON'T go higher than medium heat, it's best to cook this slowly. Now whiles constantly stirring, keep heating this until the mixture turns a light golden caramel colour and the texture becomes fudge like.
- At this point, mix in the salt.
- Pour this over your shortbread layer, then leave this aside for about 30 minutes so that the caramel can set up.
- The chocolate layer:
- Once your caramel has set, you can add the chocolate.
- In separate bowls, melt both chocolates in your microwave.
- Spread the melted dark chocolate over the set caramel layer, then drizzle the white chocolate over this.
- Using a knife or a skewer, swirl this around until you get a nice pattern.
- Now you need to leave this to set, you can either put it in your fridge for an hour, or I just left it at room temperature overnight.
- Once set, cut into it and enjoy!
