Millionaires Shortbread is a British tea time staple. A rich, buttery shortbread is smothered in a gooey layer of homemade caramel and topped off with lashings of dark (or milk, whatever you prefer) chocolate. Pure decadence.
I grew up eating Millionaires Shortbread almost every Sunday. Whenever we’d go to visit our Gran she’d greet us at the door with a plate piled high with these lavish treats. They taste like pure nostalgia. She gave me the recipe years ago and I’ve made them hundreds of times since, but this is their first appearance on the blog. Welcome to the family, you caramelly babe you!
While there’s quite a few steps to making Millionaires Shortbread it’s actually really simple. The shortbread base can be whipped up by hand quite easily or if you’re lazy, like me, you can use an electric mixer. Why make life harder for yourself? Press that sucker evenly in an 8×8 pan and get it baked so you can move on to the fun bit, making the caramel!
Making your own caramel from scratch sounds quite scary, and it kinda is. You gotta be super careful, this one isn’t for little hands so banish the kids to another room, turn on your favourite playlist and get ready to stir. I’d really recommend buying yourself a candy thermometer for this step, it really makes life easier for you and you can pick them up for next to nothing. I also like to use a whisk for the constant stirring as I feel like you can really keep the caramel moving quickly and prevent it from catching. Just pop everything into a heavy bottomed sauce pan with the heat on medium and keep on stirring until you reach 105C, or about 6-7 minutes if you don’t own a thermometer. You’re looking for a nice, golden brown colour. Delicious!
The hardest thing about making caramel is preventing it from catching, or burning on the bottom of the pan. Keeping your mixture moving is the best way to prevent this happening, if you start to see little dark flecks appear in your caramel simply turn the heat down slightly and keep stirring.
Most importantly of all, stay safe! Caramel gets VERY hot and can burn you very easily.
Millionaires Shortbread
- Total Time: 5hrs
- Yield: 16 squares 1x
Ingredients
Shortbread Base:
- 150g unsalted butter, softened
- 85g soft light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp fine salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 250g plain flour
Caramel Filling:
- 397g tin of condensed milk (I used Carnation)
- 200g soft light brown sugar
- 100g unsalted butter
- 50g golden syrup
- 1/2 tsp fine salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Topping:
- 200g dark chocolate
- 30g neutral flavoured oil (sunflower, grapeseed, groundnut and corn oil are all flavourless oils)
Instructions
For the Shortbread:
- Preheat the oven to 170°c and grease an 8×8″ square pan and line with parchment paper, ensuring the paper overlaps the pan. You’ll be using the overlap to pull the bake from the pan later.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the soft butter and brown sugar together on a medium high speed. Add the salt, vanilla and flour, and mix until a soft dough forms. Press the dough into the bottom of your prepared pan making sure to smooth it all evenly. Prick the dough all over with a fork and chill for 15 minutes.
- Bake the base for 30 minutes until set and just golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely while you make the caramel filling.
Caramel Filling:
- Mix the condensed milk, brown sugar, butter and golden syrup in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan and set over a medium heat. Continue to stir or whisk the filling constantly until the caramel registers 105°c on a candy thermometer. You have to be super careful at this stage not to let the bottom of the pan burn, just keep whisking and turn the heat down a smidge if you sense burning.
- Once your caramel has reached 105°c remove it from the heat and carefully pour it over your cooled shortbread base. Smooth the topping using a rubber spatular and chill for at least 2 hours.
Chocolate Topping:
- In a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and oil together, stirring until smooth and melted.
- Pour the melted chocolate over the chilled caramel filling and tilt the tin to cover evenly.
- Chill for at least 1 hour, once the chocolate is set remove the shortbread from the pan using the overhanging parchment and cut into squares. Wipe the knife after each cut for a neater square.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes plus chilling
- Category: Baking
- Cuisine: English
Keywords: Caramel, Shortbread, Chocolate, Toffee, Bars
Do you have to be a millionaire to make these? 😂 I’m no richy but these do look like pure decadence!
★★★★★
Haha, I hope not or I’ve been breaking some big rules!
Katie xoxo
Everything about this looks incredible! I love shortbread.. and caramel.. so I will definitely be trying this one soon. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Aren’t grandmas wonderful? Mine always had Rice Krispie square with colored sugar on top. Thanks for sharing your grandma’s recipe I will definitely be making these shortbreads.
★★★★★
Oh I love Rice Krispie squares, so delicious!!
Katie xoxo
These are the most perfect layers! Looks so delicious and the perfect afternoon treat!
★★★★★
This is definitely a bread that can be called millionaires from the looks of it. This makes me crave for it as it looks so enticing and mesmerizing because of the layer of sweetness it has.
★★★★★
You’re speaking my language with these millionaires. Probably the only millionaire I’ll ever get my hands on, LOL!
★★★★★
How gorgeous and beautiful is this shortbread. I would love to try this out
★★★★★
Oh my gosh! THese look and sound amazing. I love the combo of flavors here. My family already asked for them again.
★★★★★
I love shortbread but going to say I like the millionaire version better! can’t wait to share these!
★★★★★
Your Millionaire Shortbread looks delicious. I really like how you have used dark chocolate to top the caramel and shortbread, it adds a touch of bitterness to contrast with the sweetness.
★★★★★
Mmm, I love anything with shortbread and caramel, and I appreciate the tips about making caramel, which I haven’t tried in a LONG time, if ever.
★★★★★
This millionaires shortbread is so delicious! My whole family loves it and we will be making again and again!
★★★★★
I love millionaire squares and they look so so tempting. I wish I could grab a few right from the screen.
★★★★★
Wow your photos are drool worthy and this millionaires shortbread looks to-die for delicious! I really need to make this treat very soon!
★★★★★
I made these as a dessert the other day and my family loved the different layers of it! I will definitely make these again as a small treat. Thank you for sharing this recipe, it was delicious!
★★★★★
Dang, these look amazing! Love the layers there with all different flavors and textures. Thanks for sharing!
What a great looking dessert! I can’t wait to make and share this wonderful recipe!
★★★★★
I am soooo printing this recipe to make with my little one over the holidays! Such a cool, beautiful recipe and I love that you can control the portion sizes… though don’t ask me how many I would actually eat lol!
★★★★★
Heard our millionaires shortbread a lot but haven’t tried for myself. This looks absolutely gorgeous and delicious.
★★★★★