Millionaire's Shortbread

***GLUTEN FREE ADAPTATION AT THE BOTTOM!***

After a much longer delay than anticipated, here is the most recent blog post, in which I slightly burn condensed milk, make a mess of the kitchen, and consume ridiculously large amounts of sticky sweet stuff. All in a day's work.

Being a serious fan of that crunchy, gooey, chocolatey goodness which is millionaire's shortbread I've long wanted to have a try at making some. An internet search revealed a plethora of recipes, but none seemed to me quite right, so armed with a bunch of them, and a splash of ingenuity, I headed to the kitchen.

I wanted to strike the balance between enough crunch, the butteriness of the base, plenty of the caramel, and just enough chocolate without the taste being overpowering. The eventual destination of the shortbread was the table at my sister's 21st birthday party, so I knew it had to be good.

The recipe I've included below is the one that I adapted and used, and to me, it's about as perfect as it gets. Obviously it may not suit everyone's tastes, and I'm sure I'll have plenty who tell me it should be dark chocolate, but I decided to detail this how I like it best. The rest of you will just have an excuse to make as much as you want to get it 'just right' then, won't you?

The shortbread base

You will need:
125g butter (leave this out the fridge a few hours first)
50g caster sugar
175g plain flour

• Preheat the oven to 190c
• Line a small brownie tin with baking parchment
• In a bowl, rub the butter into the flour thoroughly, until a golden colour and the bits are an even size
• Stir in the sugar, ensuring it is evenly distributed
• Pour into the lined tin and press down well, right up to the edges
• Bake for 20 minutes (don't worry if it doesn't look 'done', it is)
• Leave this to cool COMPLETELY before the next stage

The caramel topping

You will need:
397g tin condensed milk
50g butter (cubed)
50g soft light brown sugar

• Put all of the ingredients into a heavy bottomed saucepan, and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved.
• Stirring constantly bring to the boil and then reduce heat so it simmers gently for 5 minutes
• The mixture should be a lovely fudgy colour and considerably thicker. I found that mine burnt quite easily, but the darker specs this caused made no difference to the taste or look of the finished shortbread.
• Pour the mixture over the shortbread base (Careful, it'll be REALLY hot)
• Allow to cool (in the fridge) completely

The chocolate top

You will need:
200g milk cake covering chocolate

• Snap the chocolate into a bowl above a pan of boiling water
• Melt until smooth
• Pour over the base
• Allow to cool before cutting into squares and removing from the baking paper.

Yes it uses a lot of pans, and yes there seems to be loads of waiting in between all the various stages. But as soon as I took a bite, I didn't even mind the piles of washing up.

UPDATE - GLUTEN FREE VERSION!!!

I've recently had a go at making a gluten free version of these yummy squares of goodness. The only part that actually needs adapting is the base, and I replaced the flour with gluten free flour, half plain and half self raising. I also reduced the amount of butter to 100g, and increased the sugar content to 75g. Make in the same way as described above.

Chocolate Brownies

I've spent a while struggling to find a brownie recipe that works consistently, is straight forward and of course results in perfect chocolate brownies! This is the best I've found so far, not too gooey and not too cakey and more or less bang on in the chocolatey stakes. It makes about 12 decent sized brownies, or more if you want to cut it into little bites. The baking tin I use is 20cm by 30cm, but a slighter smaller tin would be fine too, it would just give you thicker brownies that take a bit longer to cook (see advice at the bottom on how to tell when the brownies are done). Oh, and it tastes especially brilliant just out the oven with a good scoop of ice cream :)

75g Margarine (butter works too, but it does take longer to melt)
340g dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
165g self raising flour
65g cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla essence (almond essence also tastes good)

• Preheat oven to 170c
• Melt the margarine in a pan over a low heat, remove once all melted
• Using a wooden spoon stir in the sugar
• Stir the beaten egg and vanilla essence into the mixture
• Gradually stir in the flour and cocoa powder, taking care to avoid lumps
• Pour into a baking tin (no need to grease or line) and spread out evenly
• Cook for 30 minutes (see below)
• Cut up and remove from tray whilst still warm

The real trick when it comes to telling if the brownies are cooked is in my experience the 'talking' and the wobble tests. When you take the tray out of the oven, carefully tilt it from side to side. If it still looks like it's moving under the surface then it probably needs longer. Also, hold it up near your ear (carefully, singed ear doesn't do much for the flavour) and if you can still hear the mixture 'talking' it isn't quite done yet.

The hearts on the borwnies in the picture were owing to a charity event I baked them for and were simply drawn on using a glitter icing pen.
Happy baking!