Millionaire Shortbread Bars

This popular British shortbread consists of three delicious layers; a buttery shortbread, a smooth caramel, and a shiny layer of melted chocolate. Biting into one of these delectable bars is a fulfilling feeling . As its name suggest it is indeed a rich bar !!.



I came across this recipe from Joy Of Bakingby Stephanie Jaworski
Browsing thru her site ,one can enjoy the many sweet delicacies that her site has to offer.I often make a visit to her site to check out her wonderful recipes mainly cakes,cookies and bars.
According to Stephanie , there are two ways to make the caramel for this cookie.The first method being making your own by cooking a can of sweetened condensed milk until thick and caramel colored. This is definitely an option but a much simpler way is to use a product called Dulce de Leche. Dulce de Leche (also known as Cajeta, Arequipe, Manjar, and Confiture de Lait) is Spanish for "sweet of milk" or "milk candy" and is basically boiled milk and sugar. It is a delicious tasting spread with a beautiful caramel color. If you use the Dulce de Leche when making these bars, all you have to do is heat the caramel and pour it over the baked shortbread base. If you make your own caramel from sweetened condensed milk, once it has cooked all you need to do is beat it until smooth and then, again, pour it over the baked shortbread base.
Of course I haven’t come across Dulce de Leche in Melaka or the whole of Malaysia, therefore I opt in making my own Dulce de Leche.



The finishing touch, is the chocolate layer, I have changed abit by mixing in dark chocolate and Hersley chocolate chips which gives a wonderful flavour to the bars.Once the melted chocolate is poured over the caramel layer and has been left to set, cut the shortbread into bars with a sharp knife.


SHORTBREAD:
170gms unsalted butter , room temperature
50gms granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
210gms all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt


For the Dulce de Leche/Caramel filling :
396 grams can sweetened condensed milk


Pour the milk into a heatproof bowl and place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Cover and cook, over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 to 60 minutes or until the milk has thickened and has turned a light caramel color. Remove from heat and beat until smooth. Pour the caramel over the baked shortbread and leave to set.
I tried using microwave ,but didn’t work that well.Since my microwave has confection oven ,it didn’t have low,medium and high heat function ,but standard.The milk start bubbling upwards and in fear that it would boil over ,I decided to use the double boiling method.This was what I got after an hour.



CHOCOLATE TOPPING:
100 gms dark chocolate, break into pieces
70 gm Hersley chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter

FOR TOPPING: Melt both type of chocolates with butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Pour the melted chocolate evenly over the caramel and leave to set. Cut the shortbread into pieces using a sharp knife once its set.



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