Jul 28 2010
Millionaire’s Shortbread, revisited
In my quest to perfect this recipe for Millionaire’s Shortbread, I made a few of changes. One I will keep, one I will toss, and the other will entirely depend on how hot (or cold) it is outside.
I mentioned before that I was unhappy with the shortbread in the original recipe, so I switched to a shortbread recipe that I like very much. This is the change that I will keep. I think the bars taste so much better with this shortbread; they’re really the taste and texture I was hoping for the first time around.
Because it’s the middle of summer, and because my new air conditioner stopped working, I decided to use purchased dulce de leche. I always either burn it in the microwave or make a mess of my microwave, and there’s no way I would even consider the stovetop method when the humidity has me trying to beat off crankiness. For the record, however, I think that I would prefer to caramelize the milk myself to get the right texture of caramel – the canned dulce de leche is delicious and perfect for, well, just about everything, but it would be my second choice for this recipe. However, if you’re in a hurry, it definitely speeds up the process.
Last time I made Millionaire’s Shortbread, I wanted more chocolate. So I doubled it.
Um, not the best idea. Really, I think I wanted to cover up the taste of the shortbread, but when the shortbread was good, the caramel was good, doubled chocolate was way, way too much. Plus, I used semi-sweet this time instead of 60%…it overpowered everything else, but the bars are still disappearing, so I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
For this recipe, I really do think the third time will be the charm.
Millionaire’s Shortbread
adapted from Baked
for the shortbread
12 tablespoons butter
½ cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350* Grease 9×13 inch pan with butter.
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add salt and slowly add flour until mixed. Press dough into pan.
Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven and prick all over with a fork. Bake another 10-12 minutes or until golden, then cool completely.
for the caramel layer
Spread two cans of dulce de leche over the cooled shortbread; refrigerate.
for the chocolate layer
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons corn syrup
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 teaspoon prepared coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a heatproof bowl over simmering water, melt the butter. Add the chocolate and corn syrup and whisk occasionally until melted. Remove from heat. Whisk in the coffee and vanilla, allow to cool. Pour chocolate over caramel and refrigerate for one hour, then cut into bars.
Refrigerate.
I don’t think there’s a way to type out the noise I made when I saw the picture of your millionaire’s shortbread. It was like “Mmmmmlehhhh…” and there may or may not have been a ridiculous amount of drooling. I have GOT to find some canned dulce de leche, make these, and eat them in a closet so none of my family can share with me.
I definitely wouldn’t turn one down, even though you still aren’t completely happy with them. They sure look perfect.
Tara, you can make dulce de leche easily from sweetened condensed milk – I just opted not to because it’s way too hot this summer to simmer water for 4 hours.
Michelle – thank you!