I thought you’d like this recipe for my salted caramel millionaires shortbread before Christmas. It’s an easy one, obviously, for no-one needs added stress at this time of year. And it’s delicious too. I am looking forward to Christmas this year very much, and I am absolutely committed to not adding extra stress, as I am prone to doing.
The run up to Christmas is going to be stressful enough. A very close relative is having an operation just before Christmas, and me being a bit of an Eeyore, I tend to think the worse and worry about the outcome of things.
I find myself feeling more emotional and nostalgic of late. I dream about the baby we lost and who he or she might have become. I dream of my childhood Christmasses regularly too. Of my late maternal grandmother wrapping 4 packs of Babysham to sit under the tree for me to guzzle cut with lemonade (yes! imagine having such a bad influence in your life – marvellous), and the 8 year old me gobbling up all the hazelnut chocolate Roses before anyone else could get to them. No wonder I was ‘big boned’.
I was one of those kids who always wanted to be grown up. I was born old. And yet lately I yearn to be a kid again. Go figure.
Anyway, here’s the recipe for this lovely salted caramel millionaires shortbread. This is a very biscuit heavy recipe, because, well, because I like my millionaires shortbread that way. But you could halve the biscuit dough if you prefer a higher caramel and chocolate ratio to the biscuit layer.
I made this recipe for the lovely folk at Aldi by the way. There’s a little video here:
Lots of great recipes like this in my books, Recipes from a Normal Mum, (available on Amazon, at The Works, Waterstones, WHSmith, The Book Depository and many smaller outlets) and The Power of Frozen (available through Amazon).
Last December: Mince pie brownies and Pulled jerk turkey sliders and Christmas pudding crackers and Fail safe mince pies and Boxing day pie and Christmas pudding flapjack and Last minute tropical trashy Christmas cake and Sausage,onion and apple sesame plait and Cherry eccles cakes and Cinnamon apple pie and Mushroom, leek and Stilton soup and Firecracker
scones.
Two years ago: Two minute marinade for chicken and Melted snowman biscuits and Egg nog truffles and Chocolate biscuit Christmas pudding and Drunken Amaretto mince pies and Cheese concertina loaf and Hot chocolate on a stick and Sausage, sage and squash lasagne and Chocolate hazelnut granola and Orange and cranberry loaf and Chocolate ganache tart.
Three years ago: My slow cooker beef bourguignon pie and Crumble topped mince pies and a very ugly but delicious cranberry & raspberry traybake
Four years ago: Mini Yorkshire pudding canapes and Christmas pudding fizz and Brandy butter icing and Rudolf morsels
Five years ago: Lime meringue pie with chocolate pastry and Christmas scones and Ginger cake with Christmas cottage and Hot chocolate on a stick
Six years ago: Moonuts and Cheese biscuits and Parsnip soup and Inauthentic chicken tagine
Tips:
- Use the bottom of a glass to press the shortbread into the tin evenly.
-
Use a knife dipped in boiling water (and wiped on a clean tea towel) to cut the millionaire’s shortbread into squares. Repeat the heating and wiping of the knife after each cut to produce perfect little squares.
Yield: Makes 16 larger squares or 36 small bites
- For the biscuit base:
- • 340g salted butter
- • 170g castor sugar
- • 510g plain flour
- For the caramel:
- • 150g salted butter
- • 1 tsp salt
- • 150g dark brown soft sugar
- • 397g condensed milk
- For the chocolate layer:
- • 300g dark chocolate
- • 50g milk chocolate
Line a 25cm x 25cm tin with sides at least 3cm high, with butter and greaseproof paper. Take your soft butter and beat (in your stand mixer/with an electric mixer/by hand with a wooden spoon) until soft and creamy looking. Then add the sugar and beat again until all combined, light and fluffy. Add the flour and beat until the mixture comes together into clumps. Press into your prepared tin, chill for 30 minutes before baking in a preheated oven at 170C/150C fan/gas mark 3 for 35 minutes until just starting to turn lightly golden brown on the top. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack, in the tin. Make the caramel by melting the butter, salt and sugar in a large saucepan over a low heat, then add the condensed milk, turn up the heat and bring to the boil stirring with a wooden spoon continually for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool and thicken for 10 minutes. Pour over the shortbread. Chill in the fridge. Melt both chocolates separately in the microwave in 30 second bursts so as not to risk burning. You can use the bain marie method instead if you prefer. The best way to add the chocolate layer is to pour the dark chocolate in sections so that you don’t disturb the set caramel. Use a teaspoon to push the chocolate gently over the caramel and then, whilst the chocolate is still molten, add teaspoons of the milk chocolate, before using a toothpick or skewer to carefully swirl the chocolates together. Leave to set at room temperature and cut into squares to serve.
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