Shortbread is a cookie native to Scotland. It is made from sugar, flour, and butter, with no added baking soda or baking powder. It is essentially nothing more than a shortbread cookie. Shortbread gets its name because of its crumbly texture. The word "shortbread," used to have another meaning, "inelastic."A millionaire's shortbread is a Scottish shortbread with caramel filling and chocolate topping. This dessert has many different names, which depend on the region. It is called: caramel shortbread, caramel slice, caramel square or millionaire's slice. But the most popular and familiar name is of course Twix.
200gsugar (The original recipe calls for brown sugar; I do not see the reason for that in this case)
120gheavy cream
120gcorn syrup (or 120 g sugar + 30 ml water + lemon juice from 1/4 lemon, I will tell you more about how to substitute the corn syrup in the recipe)
120gunsalted butter
½tsp.salt
For the chocolate layer:
225g50-60% dark chocolate
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat.Mix the all-purpose flour, sugar and salt and stir to combine. Pour in the melted butter and knead the dough. Knead until no dry parts remain. Set aside.
Take a mold about 33 by 23 cm (13 by 9 inches), tear two sheets of foil, one 33 cm long, the other 23 cm long. Place them perpendicular to each other in the mold. Press the foil into the corners. Do not tear the foil hanging off the sides - it will help get the cookies out of the mold.Transfer the dough to the mold and spread it out with your hands over the entire area of the mold. Press down and tamp down to the same thickness. Prick the dough with a fork all over the surface.Bake until golden, about 25-30 minutes.Using a metal spatula (or just a spoon), lightly press the hot dough all over the surface. Let cool, at least 20 minutes.
Prepare the filling:
After 20 minutes, prepare the caramel filling.I did not have corn syrup, so I replaced it with invert syrup.To do this, mix the sugar and water in a saucepan. Put it on the fire. While stirring let sugar completely dissolve in the syrup. When it boils, pour the juice of a quarter of a lemon through a fine sieve so that no pips or other lemon parts get into the syrup. Stir again, the syrup is ready.In a heavy-bottomed saucepan or pot (this is important!!!), mix together condensed milk, sugar (the original recipe calls for brown sugar, I don't see the point in that), heavy cream, corn syrup (or the alternative we made), butter and salt.
Place a saucepan over medium heat. Stirring frequently, bring the mixture to 113-115°C (235-240°F) until it is light brown and caramelized and the mixture has thickened. This will take 16 to 20 minutes. If you don't have a thermometer, use the color and cooking time as a guide.When desired temperature is reached - remove from heat and stir for a couple more minutes. Pour the mass into a mold with a shortbread base. Tilting the mold, spread the filling until equally thick.Let cool for 1.5 hours.
Make a water bath: pour about 200 ml of water into a saucepan or pot, put a metal or glass bowl on top. Turn on the heat.Break the chocolate into the bowl. Cook constantly stirring until about half of the chocolate has melted. Turn off the heat.While continuing to stir, melt the remaining chocolate. Pour chocolate into mold, spreading evenly.
Take mold out of refrigerator, remove foil. Cut the dessert in half on the long side. Further cut perpendicularly into 15-20 equal pieces.Store in the refrigerator in the mold in which the shortbread was made, covered with clingfilm.