Millionaire's Shortbread: just a fraction naughty

 A quick update: in case anyone is wondering how many books I have worked through so far, here is the total: 23! Doing the the maths means I've only got another 177 books to get through - keep them coming!

Millionaire's shortbread has got to be the ultimate sweet fix; all that gooey caramel filling, plain dark chocolate and shortbread biscuit base is to die for! Although I've made this a number of times I hadn't made this particular recipe from this particular book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Housekeeping-Cookery-Book-Companion/dp/184340592X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361311715&sr=1-1 .  The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book: The Cook's Classic Companion (2011) is a very comprehensive cookery book to say the least, with just about everything covered from stocks and stuffings, sauces and dressings, canapes to meat, poultry, game, eggs, cheese, rice , grains, pastry....the list goes on! You can see from the published date this hasn't been out long and I have to confess I haven't made much use of it yet (well actually, this is the first time!). It's one of those books that you can reliably turn to if you need a recipe for say sticky toffee pudding or meat loaf or stuffed chicken breasts or even lobster thermidor. That's right, it's got all the classics and more. So what else is springing off the pages of this book I hear you say? It's all those recipes that you haven't ever got round to doing and that you maybe want to try for the first time using recipes that have been triple-tested by the Good Housekeeping team. So for me, the panna cotta (page 379) is crying out to be made as is the raised pork pie on page 217 and I really must get round to doing my own spinach and ricotta canneloni at some stage (p.249).

A small slice is all you need of this decadent treat

Millionaire's Shortbread (copyright The National Magazine Company Limited and Collins & Brown 2011)

Makes 20 squares

175g unsalted butter at room temperature, diced
250g plain flour
75g golden caster sugar
For the topping
2x397g cans sweetened condensed milk
100g light muscovado sugar
100g butter
 250g plain chocolate, broken into pieces

Making breadcrumbs

Forming into a ball

Going into the oven to bake

Making the caramel topping

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and then grease and line a 33 x 23cm Swiss roll tin. Put the flour, caster sugar and butter into a food processor and blend until the mixture forms crumbs, then pulse a little more until it forms a ball. Alternatively rub the butter into the flour and sugar by hand and assemble into a ball. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead lightly to combine.
2. Press the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 20 minutes or until firm to the touch and a very pale brown.
3. Now make the topping, put the condensed milk, muscavado sugar and butter into a non-stick pan and cook over a medium heat, stirring continuously until a fudge-like consistency. Spoon the caramel on to the shortbread, smooth over and allow to cool.
4. To finish, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water, then pour over the caramel layer. Leave to set at room temperature, then cut into 20 squares and enjoy with a cup of coffee!

Ready to set

The cooked shortbread

Somebody enjoying a slice!

The finished article

As I'd made this before, although using a slightly different recipe, I realised that we actually preferred a lighter version by having a thinner layer of caramel. Instead of using the quantities above, I actually halved the condensed milk, butter and sugar in this topping. The photographs in the book do show a thicker layer! Also don't worry if you haven't got any muscovado sugar, a light brown soft sugar is just as good.

Coming very soon: Chinese prawn toasts