Hi all! Hope you’re enjoying the warm weather after all that cold rain we got! It’s actually looking like summer could come after all!

Last week, my sister was in town for Mother’s Day and we decided to have our own “British Baking Show” time (if you haven’t watched the show, go watch it. Seriously.) We made a couple different desserts that are popular on the show including a classic Bakewell Tart and this recipe for Millionaire Shortbread, a really rich and tasty dessert made from a shortbread covered with a layer of caramel, all topped with chocolate. The pan was empty within a couple days, which should tell you how good these things are. Keep in mind, the recipes were written by folks in the UK so I’ve converted the recipe over from grams to cups, so it’s not quite exact. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup softened butter (for shortbread)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 5oz butter (10 tbsp)
• 5oz dark brown sugar (a little over 1/2 cup)
• 1, 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

To make the shortbread, preheat the oven to 300F. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Gradually mix in the flour until everything is well combined.

Pat the dough down into a parchment paper-lined 9″ square baking dish and prick the dough all over with a fork. (You can also just use an ungreased baking dish but we thought it would be fun to line the dish like they do in the British Baking Show.)

Bake for 40 minutes or until light golden brown. Let the shortbread cool completely on a cooling rack.

Now for the caramel! In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together until very smooth and the sugar is completely dissolved. It definitely helps to use a nonstick pan, and I’ll explain why below!

After the sugar is dissolved, add the condensed milk and bring the caramel to a rapid boil, stirring continuously. Cook the caramel for another minute or so until it thickens and then turn off the heat to let it cool.

Pour the caramel over the shortbread and chill until set.

Ok, so the reason you want to use a nonstick pan is because the heated sugar crystals will latch onto any sticky surface they can find to form new and bigger crystals (like when someone makes rock candy). A nonstick pan helps prevent these crystals from forming, which helps give you a smoother caramel. I didn’t use a nonstick saucepan because I don’t have one, so I ended up with some sugar crystal flecks in my caramel (see the picture below). It totally didn’t affect the taste one bit, but if you’re going for the British Baking Show caliber of this treat, you should probably use a nonstick pan.

Once the caramel has set, it’s time to melt the chocolate and pour it over the top! We went one step extra with this chocolate and tempered it, which gives it a nice shine when the chocolate has hardened. Here’s how you do it:

1. Melt the majority of your chocolate in the microwave (or over a double boiler if you’re feeling fancy) by microwaving it for 30 seconds, stirring, and repeating until it’s melted.
2. Add unmelted chocolate chips into the melted chocolate and stir until all the chocolate is melted.

When all the chocolate is melted, pour it over the caramel and spread into an even layer.

Once the chocolate sets a bit, go ahead and cut the shortbread and dig in!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did- and seriously, go watch the British Baking Show if you haven’t yet! Happy baking!