Millionaire’s Shortbread: the sweet recipe for making delicious caramel shortbread (2024)

FAQs

How to thicken caramel for millionaires shortbread? ›

Place the caramel (or dulce de leche or sweetened condensed milk) into a medium pot with the butter, sugar and salt. Heat on medium, stirring often, until the butter has melted. Turn the heat to low and continue to cook, stirring often, for 7-10 minutes until the caramel has thickened and darkened.

While Millionaire's shortbread has a soft caramel filling, Billionaire's shortbread has salted caramel sauce in the center.

The most common mistakes when making shortbread are over-working the dough, and incorporating too much flour.

The name "millionaire's shortbread" appears to have originated in Scotland. The "millionaire" prefix to millionaire's shortbread or millionaires slice implies a level of decadence and wealth to the sweet treat, that it is an upgrade from regular shortbread.

If caramels are too soft, that means the temperature didn't get high enough. Again place the caramel back into a sauce pan with a couple of tablespoons of water and heat to 244°F. If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can test with a cold water test.

**If you struggle to cut your shortbread and tray bakes without the chocolate cracking on top, set it at room temperature rather than in the fridge and it'll be softer so therefore won't crack when you cut it! I recommend using a 9" square tin like this one!

Scotland has gifted the world with many treasures, including the Loch Ness Monster, stuffed sheep stomach, and the voice of Sheena Easton. Scotland has also given the world shortbread. For something traditionally made with just three ingredients (butter, flour, and sugar), shortbread shouldn't be hard to screw up.

The high butter quantity in shortbread (one part sugar to two parts butter) gives it that delightfully crumbly feel. And also its name. This is because the old meaning of the world “short” reflects this crumbliness and so the name 'shortbread' stuck.

As Leiths also recommend chilling the dough before baking, although only for 15 minutes, I make another batch of their recipe with soft butter, stick it straight in the oven without passing the fridge, and end up with thinner, crunchier biscuits – presumably because the mixture spreads as the fat melts.

Why is shortbread unhealthy? ›

However, lipids, which are a component to food such as shortbread cookies are considered unhealthy because they are the most energetic nutrients in food and are a source of saturated fatty acids (SFA) (usually 40%) and sometimes also trans fatty isomers (TFA) [4,5,6].

If you google 'homemade Twix' you essentially get a millionaires shortbread recipe. Think about it; the ingredients are exactly the same and a millionaire's shortbread is definitely not a chocolate bar. They come individually wrapped but also in multipacks.

Triangular wedges of shortbread became known as "petticoat tails", and this form of shortbread has become particularly associated with Mary, Queen of Scots. It has been suggested that a French term for the wedges of shortbread was petit* gâteaux or petites gatelles – little cakes, and this became "petticoat tails".

Traditional Scottish shortbread is a simple recipe made with sugar, butter, flour, and salt. Other shortbread styles will include leavening agents like baking powder and baking soda, which makes them crisp instead of crumbly like traditional Scottish shortbread.

To thin caramel, just add some cream or water over heat. Melt caramel loaves in the oven. You can also add corn syrup or lemon juice to caramel sauces to prevent them from crystallizing.

Yes technically you can, but it has a much looser consistency so when you try and cut your shortbread into pieces the caramel will ooze out all over the place. Still delicious to eat, but very messy. BUT there is a way around this – you can thicken Carnation caramel by boiling it with caster sugar and butter.

For thicker shortbread, starting with a slightly hotter oven to set the dough, and then dialing it back a bit can help prevent spread. And with smaller, thinner shortbread you don't have to worry about that as much.