Millionaire Shortbread

by Elsha

I went to a cookie exchange last night, and what better reason to try out a new cookie recipe right? Perfect timing too, since my mom and I recently came across a recipe in a magazine that we wanted to try. These are called millionaire shortbread. They have a shortbread layer on the bottom, then a layer of salted caramel, then chocolate on top. I googled "millionaire shortbread" and came up with several recipes, but none of them were the one we used, and I don't want you to be disappointed so here's the recipe straight from the magazine. (Incidentally, it's from AARP magazine, which my grandma always got while she lived with my parents. Apparently they are not aware that she died. Lucky for us because we would never have tried this recipe otherwise.) Anyway, here it is:

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar, divided
1 teaspoon salt, divided
2 cups cold, unsalted butter, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 pound high quality milk or dark chocolate

1) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13 inch pan, layer the pan with parchment paper, and butter the paper.

2) To make the shortbread, measure the flour, 1/2 cup of the brown sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt into a food processor and pulse until mixed. Add 1 cup of the butter in chunks, and pulse until roughly mixed. Sprinkle in 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla, continue to process until the dough begins to form a ball. Remove from the processor and press evenly over the bottom of the pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, turning the pan halfway through to brown evenly. (Side note here- our food processor did NOT cooperate with cold butter. We ended up dumping the whole mixture into a bowl, heating it in the microwave to soften the butter and then stirring it up with a spoon. That worked FINE.)

3) To make the caramel, melt the remaining 1 cup butter over low heat. Stir in the remaining 1 cup brown sugar, the corn syrup, and the condensed milk. Raise heat to medium-low; bring to a boil, stirring constantly for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt, then 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Pour evenly over the baked crust; let cool.

4) Melt the chocolate, the pour it evenly over the caramel layer. Cool completely in the pan, then use the parchment paper to lift the shortbread out of the pan. Cut into squares. Makes 36-40 bars.

You guys. These are SO GOOD. My only complaint was that they're so rich I could only eat one even though I wanted to eat many, many more of them. You definitely need to make these.

Comments

[Judy Judy]

Try cutting the cold butter into 1/4" cubes before processing.

[L]

What was the texture of your caramel layer? I was not happy with mine. Didn't really set up. It was too soft for me. Not smooth either. They were all eaten, but I wasn't proud of them. I was just googling the AARP recipe to see if others had had a problem and don't see anything. So, I'm wondering if I just had the wrong expectation. I'm saving the recipe regardless and will give it another try next year.

[Elsha]

Our caramel layer was also pretty soft. Much softer than it looked in the picture, and I'm not sure how to get it to set up better. We all liked it that way though, so I'd make it again anyway.

[elaine lazzaro]

I too, found this recipe too soft , wet and too much butter in caramel. Had to strain off about half cup on the top of warm caramel. Would never make again. Wasted a lot of $$$$$$

[Karen]

I too, found that there was too much butter in the recipe. I think it should have been 1/2 cup in the caramel layer. When I made the caramel layer, there wasn't enough sugar to absorb the butter after cooking it for 4 minutes. I tried cooking it longer, but it didn't help. I would try it again because it tasted good, but would cut the butter quantity to 1 cup total.

[MaryMc]

Before I made this, my husband the shortbread purist had his doubts about shortbread adulterated with caramel and chocolate--he said he prefers his pristine. I told him just to forger the shortbread label and taste. We both LOVED these cookies!! And, I had none of the above problems. My caramel set up just fine and looked pretty much like the photos in the magazine (I did boil it for 5 minutes, instead of 4, after hearing that other people found it too soft). And I didn't have any trouble with the butter separating out from the sugar in the caramel--it cooked up perfectly.