millionaire shortbread aka caramel shortbread

[wurlywurly]

anyone have a good recipe cant find mine. Thanks

Nothing?s quite as luxurious as Heston Blumenthal?s millionaire?s shortbread

Millionaire?s shortbread is a mix of refinement and indulgence, but people tend to buy rather than make it. Having a recipe means you can push the envelope with the different elements. After all, fresh shortbread is delicious, and you can make the caramel-and-chocolate layers as thick or thin as you wish. Eat as a biscuit with tea, or serve as a dessert with ice cream.

For the shortbread

100g butter, softened
60g caster sugar
Pinch salt
3 egg yolks
250g flour

For the caramel

1 x 397g tin condensed milk
120g unsalted butter
120g demerara sugar

For the chocolate topping

100g milk chocolate (or plain ? depending on personal preference)

To make the shortbread, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the salt and egg yolks, then stir in the flour, using your hands to mix it thoroughly until a soft dough is formed. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and leave to rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Line a baking tray (about 20cm x 24cm in size) with baking parchment. Once chilled, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 0.5cm and press into the prepared tray.

Chill in the refrigerator for a further hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160C/ 325F/Gas Mark 3. Bake the shortbread for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool in the tin.

While the shortbread is cooking, you can tackle the caramel. Put the unopened tin of condensed milk in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 4 hours, being careful not to let it boil dry. Set aside to cool. Do not open the can while still warm.

Melt the butter in a small pan over a gentle heat, then stir in the demerara sugar. Leave to simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved. Whisk in the caramelised condensed milk until the mixture is completely smooth, then pour it over the cooled shortbread base. Spread out evenly, and set aside to cool completely.

Break the chocolate into a bowl, and place the bowl over a pan of boiling water. Stir until all the chocolate has melted. Pour the chocolate over the cooled caramel, smoothing it with the back of a knife. Put the tray in the refrigerator to allow the chocolate to set.

When you are ready to serve, cut the caramel block into your desired portion sizes and indulge.

Got this from the Times a few months back, it works well and isn't overly complicated (considering it's Heston!)

God I love this stuff. Guess what I'll be doing today

(you can buy tins of the caramel rather than making your own!)

I do a few tins at once, then you have near-instant banoffee at the slightest whim

Spooky! I was going to make some of this today and have been searching for a Waitrose recipe I used ages ago but have lost the magazine so just found it on the website. I haven't tried it with the macadamia nuts though as I keep forgetting to buy them.

Waitrose Millionaires Shortbread

This stuff is fabbarooney.

To make "posher still" stuff, we do the choc topping slightly diff. Either melt a a handful of white choc buttons and dip a spoon and "waggle" it over the top to get arty streaks of white choc over the milk choc on the diagonal. Or before the milk choc has set completely and still quite warm, space out a few white choc buttons on a non stick plate, microwave for seconds only to start to warm them through but not melt totally. Now, with a flat butter knife carefully lift them off the plate and drop on to the milk choc topping. The warmth of the milk choc and the slight warming through should be enough for the white choc to sink slightly and set into the choc to make spotty milk choc topping that makes people go "ooooh - how did you make that effect".

have made mine its yummy and i have hidden it from ds'

I'm quietly pmsl at "While the shortbread is cooking, you can tackle the caramel. .... simmer gently for 4 hours," 4 hours? How long is the shortbread cooking for Seriously, the 10-minutes-in-a-saucepan method from the Waitrose recipe works just fine. 4 hours?? Who can wait that long for millionaire's shortbread??