Millionaires Shortbread Biscuits (Caramel Topping and Finishing)
This recipe although not technically difficult it is time consuming as it has 3 different stages, baking the biscuits, making the Caramel and then finishing with Chocolate, however the end result is a superior product with great eating qualities, I am always slightly bemused by the normal way Millionaires Shortbread’s are made, as most recipes call for Shortbread biscuits which already have a high butter content to begin with, which are then crushed only to have even more butter added and create a crumb base similar to what you may find on a cheesecake base, I think the additional extra butter is too much, so my approach is the make a good rich all butter shortbread biscuit and then top with caramel and chocolate.
So, I maybe going against a culinary trend which is tried and tested with this recipe, but if the response to these biscuits by the crew is anything to go by these biscuits are just about as rich and perfect as it is possible to be, and they don’t last long because one just isn’t enough..!
| Servings |
Biscuits
|
- 60 Baked Shortbread Biscuits My Basic Recipe cut using 7cm fluted cutter
- 300 grams Butter Unsalted
- 300 grams Dark Brown Sugar
- 780 grams Condensed Milk 2 Cans
- 1 kg Milk Cooking Chocolate You can use milk or plain chocolate its a personal choice!
- 400 grams White Cooking Choclate
Ingredients
Shortbread Biscuits
The Caramel Topping
Chocolate Topping
|
|
- Make your Shortbread Biscuits in advance so that they are fully cooled and crisp. do not sprinkle with caster sugar after baking we need the biscuits to be plain.
- Place the shortbread biscuits on cooling wires or suitable trays.
- Select a suitable thick bottomed Stainless steel pot and melt the butter, without colouring and add the brown sugar and condensed milk and bring to the boil stirring all the time. do not leave unattended it will burn, Boil for a few minutes until the mixture starts to thicken creating a thick caramel toffee, the more you boil the Caramel the thicker it will go, the thicker the Caramel get the more chewy it will be when cooled, we don't want Caramel too think on cooling just thick enough to hold its shape on the biscuits.
- Remove the boiling caramel from the stove, take great care as this Caramel is extremely hot.
- Using a dessert spoon start placing a spoonful of caramel on each biscuit while the caramel is still hot, and spread it a little with the back of the spoon, when the Carmel cools it will set, this is why we have to put it on our biscuits while it is still hot.
- As the Caramel cools on the biscuits melt the milk and white chocolate separately in two bowls over two pots of hot water. Remember when working with chocolate under no circumstances must water come into contact with the chocolate. I recommend you bring the pots of water to the boil transfer the pots to the bench and allow the chocolate you melt slowly , this will ensure your don't over heat the chocolate which can cause dulling of the chocolate.
- When the milk chocolate is fully melted place the pot next the caramel topped biscuits.
- One by one dip the top of each caramel topped biscuit into the melted chocolate and using a slight spinning action shake off the excess chocolate, and return each biscuit to the cooling wires.
- Make a greaseproof piping bag by taking a rectangle of greaseproof and folding diagonally as you see in this image. Notice the offset fold which creates a square at the top of the image.
- Cut the greaseproof paper along the fold to create 2 four sided pieces of paper
- Take one of the bags and place it on the bench with the point of the bag towards you and the short edge to the right.
- pick up the short edge and curl the paper around to create a cone.
- Bring the other remaining corner to wrap around the cone and you should end up with 3 points pointing towards you.
- Fold the 3 points over onto the inside edge of the bag. You bag is now made.
- To help ensure the bag does not unfold tear a small tab on the top of the bag.
- Repeat the process with the other piece of paper and you will have 2 piping bags.
- Place a piping bag jug or glass to hold the bag and carefully fill half way up. do not overfill, and twist of fold the bag.
- Cut the tip off the piping bag as close to the tip as possible to create the smallest hole you can and pipe the white chocolate backwards and forwards over the top of the biscuits to create attractive random line patterns on the biscuits.
Here we can see some biscuits topped with Dark Chocolate.