Caramel Crater Shortbread
I made some caramel shortbread because I was bored, here is the recipe…
I made standard shortbread – in other words half as much sugar by weight as butter and twice as much plain flour by weight. I used half a block of butter, about 120g, so that calls for 60g sugar and 240g flour. I used Fairtrade dark brown sugar.
The method is to chop up the butter small, then add everything else and rub it until it looks like sand. Then spoon it into whatever you’re baking in and press it lightly. I chose muffin cases and the amount of mix fitted into 12 cases.
I wanted to put caramel into them so I used a round thing to press a crater into the shortbread. I baked them at gas mark 5 until they looked and smelled about right.
The caramel is just melted butter, sugar and a little milk. About a quarter block of butter should be plenty (60g) and as much sugar as will go into it (about 150g). A splash of milk seems to help it cook evenly without burning. It needs to boil gently with constant stirring. When ready a few drops on onto a cold plate should turn gooey – usually about 10 minutes of boiling.
When the shortbreads are cooled the caramel can be poured in carefully. Then they need to cool again before they can be eaten.
I used the same shortbread but a different caramel recipe for some millionaires shortbread style slices, like this:
Butter and line a 9×11 inch tray with greaseproof paper, press in the shortbread and bake by eye.
Caramel: 60g butter, 1 tin condensed milk, about 100g sugar. Melt the butter and add the sugar and condensed milk. Heat gently stirring continuously until it boils, then reduce the heat . Keep stirring as the mixture thickens and becomes almost jelly-like. Allow to cool slightly before pouring over the shortbread. You should need to rake it around to get it level.
Topping: 100-200g dark chocolate (I used Sainsburys basics) melt in microwave on a low setting and rake over the warm caramel.
Leave to cool but it won’t set at room temperature – so transfer it to the fridge or freezer to finish off. When set you can release it from the tray by turning it upside down. Then chop into individual portions with a sharp knife. Wrap slices in greaseproof paper and store somewhere cool.
Cam
17 May 10 at 1:03 pm