Caramel Shortbread

I love making biscuits and this Caramel Shortbread is a great favourite of mine, both to make and eat. The recipe is a straightforward one and the flavour and texture of the home made caramel beats the tinned version hands down. I’d recommend you give it a go!

For the shortbread base:

This is a very simple recipe made from simple ingredients. I use a Swiss roll-type baking tin.

You will need:

300g of plain flour

150g of butter, cut into dice

75g of caster sugar

 

 

• preheat the oven to 180°C
• rub the diced butter into the flour and sugar until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs
• press this mixture into the bottom of the tin, making the layer as even as possible
• bake the shortbread for about 15 minutes, or until it is a pale golden brown colour
• remove the tin of shortbread from the oven and place it to one side on a cooling rack
• switch the oven off – it’s job is now done

For the caramel layer:

The caramel may be made whilst the shortbread is baking. Once again, this is a simple recipe and is very straightforward to make.

 

 

You will need:

I tin of condensed milk (375g)

200g of caster sugar

200g of butter

4 tablespoons of golden syrup

• place all of these ingredients in a pan, a heavy bottomed one if possible
• melt all the ingredients together gently, stirring with a wooden spoon as they melt
• bring the mixture to the boil, stirring to prevent it catching onto the bottom of the pan, and boil for 5 minutes
• the caramel should be a medium brown colour  (see my photograph of the finished product)

Although caramel making is a simple task, it requires a bit of care and attention. Whilst boiling the caramel, it needs to be at a rolling boil. If it is simmering instead, the resultant caramel will be too pale and soft. If the boil is too vigorous the resultant caramel will be more like toffee – too dark and too hard. Aim for the middle of the road!

• leave the pan of caramel to one side to cool for about 15 minutes
• pour the caramel over the surface of the shortbread. It will level itself, although you may need to encourage it to reach the corners of the tin!
• leave the caramel to cool completely

For the chocolate topping:

• Melt 200g of chocolate. I used 150g of milk chocolate and 50g of dark chocolate, but you could use whichever you prefer. I melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts, usually 3 x 30 seconds is sufficient, stirring the chocolate well in between
• spread the melted chocolate  over the surface of the cooled caramel and leave it to set, preferably overnight

The Caramel Shortbread should cut into at least 16 pieces