Week 4: Millionaire Shortbread

This week's technical challenge required the use of a waffle maker. Sadly, I do not own a waffle maker. Happily, I love millionaire shortbreads. Doubly happily, millionaire shortbreads are much less fiddly than stroopwafels. (You will remember that the last fiddly bake that I attempted caused much more frustration that it was worth...)

This week's recipe is taken from The Happy Foodie, who got it from James Morton. I've never made millionaire shortbreads before, so I stuck to the recipe quite rigidly this week.

Enjoy!

The Ingredients

For the base:
100g softened, salted butter
50g caster sugar
150g plain flour

For the caramel:
200g condensed milk
150g salted butter
50g caster sugar
50g golden syrup

For the topping:
200g dark chocolate (70%)


The Base

1) Preheat your oven to 160'C / 140'C fan / Gas Mark 3.

2) Line an 8-inch square brownie tin with baking paper and grease the sides.

3) Use a wooden spoon to combine 100g of butter with 50g of caster sugar in a large bowl until it forms a paste. Add 150g of plain flour and gently mix this in. Use your hands to work the mix until it mops up all the crumbs.

(TOP TIP: take handfuls of the mixture and gently rub your hands together to produce fine crumbs. Make sure that your grip is quite lose, so that the crumbs can fall out, back into the bowl)

4) Pour the crumbs onto your lined baking tin and press it out flat with your hands. Bake until the edges start to blush golden brown. This took me 15 mins, but as always, keep an eye on your bake and make your own judgment call.

5) Weigh 200g condensed milk, 150g salted butter, 50g caster sugar and 50g golden syrup straight into the saucepan. Place on a medium-high heat, stirring gently. Once the mixture starts bubbling around the edges, reduce the heat down to low-medium and increase your stirring speed to 'vigorous' until it becomes thick and gooey. Continue to simmer until the caramel reaches your desired colour.

6) Pour the caramel onto your biscuit base, and spread it evenly with the back of a metal spoon. Leave to cool for at least one hour.

(TOP TIP: to even out the surface, pick up your tin and drop it back onto the countertop)

7) Break 150g of chocolate into a microwavable bowl and chop the rest very finely. Microwave your chocolate chunks for 10 seconds at a time, stirring in between. Once all the chocolate has melted, add your finely chopped chocolate and stir until combined.

(TOP TIP: chocolate is extremely fickle, so getting it tempered correctly can be quite difficult. Ensure that the bowl is 100% dry when you put the chocolate in, and don't let anything else get into the bowl accidentally. If tempered correctly, the chocolate should be very shiny and harden very quickly)

8) Pour the melted chocolate onto the caramel and spread with the back of a metal spoon. Leave the chocolate to cool for at least an hour.

9) Once the chocolate has cooled completely, cut into squares and gently lift out of the tin.

(TOP TIP: heat your knife with hot water to make slicing easier)

10) Tuck in!






https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/the-ultimate-millionaires-shortbread