This Millionaire’s Shortbread is the perfect trifecta: Sweet simple, crisp shortbread, rich chewy, homemade caramel, and thick dark chocolate ganache. Sprinkle everything off with a scattering of sea salt and you have a decadently rich treat that lives up to every penny of its lucrative name.
I don’t think (and I’m sure they’ll correct me if I’m wrong) I’ve ever given my siblings anything really bad to eat.
Sometimes they eat my recipe fails, but only the most edible ones (cupcakes that are just slightly too dense, cookies that are a tad too crumbly), and I never did anything as treacherous as trying to pass off bean brownies for regular brownies, which one of my sisters actually did do to me one time (a deception I’ll never forgive).
So it’s slightly insulting to me that, when presented with any dessert that isn’t an obvious cake, cookie, or cupcake, they proceed with severe trepidation. Forks hovering nervously over their plates, eyes narrowed, skeptical, seeming to suggest — It could be an anthrax pie, how can we be sure it’s not? So much for gratitude.
But after explaining for the fourth time to my fourth sibling what Millionaire’s shortbread even is (“It’s like a fancy, homemade, gourmet twix bar”) not a single one seemed the least bit disappointed when they took their first bite.
There’s nothing to be disappointed about when it comes to Millionaire’s shortbread. This is a recipe I’ve been wanting to try my hand at for a while now and after a lot of running around in the kitchen I’m very happy to share it with you.
I don’t think I need to reiterate the fact that it’s a rich dessert — in fact I suggested to my sisters and brother that they cut each giant square into quarters, because while big squares look pretty in these pictures, they’re so rich that it’s a challenge to actually eat a whole one.
The shortbread (a faux shortbread, more on that below) is slightly sweetened but serves as the crispy vehicle to transport chewy caramel and a blanket of chocolate ganache. To make things even more decadent, it’s all topped off with a sprinkle of sea salt. It’s not called Millionaire’s shortbread for nothing!
As attaining millionaire status can change a person, so it has changed our “shortbread” cookie crust here. Surprise, it’s not a “true” shortbread. When I decided to give this classic recipe my own spin, this is one of the first changes I made.
Classic shortbread is made of only three ingredients — butter, flour, and sugar, but this is Millionaire’s shortbread so we’re making sure it lives up to its name.
An egg yolk, some brown sugar, and vanilla extract all make this cookie crust extra flavorful, and slightly softer than standard shortbread as well. Because of the added ingredients, your finished millionaire’s shortbread will cut more easily than standard shortbread (which usually breaks unevenly with jagged edges and scatters crumbs everywhere) but is still crisp and snappy beneath the soft chocolate and chewy caramel.
Andi liked the cookie layer so much she asked me to make her a pan of just that alone, nothing else.
I really wish that I could photograph the processes for these multi-step recipes — a picture of how the crumbled cookie dough should look, the caramel at its peak just before pouring it over the shortbread, the glossy chocolate ganache, etc… but since I only have two days of the week to shoot 3-4 recipes, I usually have to prepare the food Friday night, and there’s no light to take decent pictures then.
To make up for this, I try to include very detailed descriptions in the recipe, and you can always shoot me an e-mail, leave a comment, or drop by my Facebook page if you have any questions.
That being said, I don’t really think you’ll have any problem with this recipe, the trickiest part is the caramel and it doesn’t even require a candy thermometer!
I hope you enjoy this Millionaire’s shortbread as much as my siblings ultimately did!
Millionaire's Shortbread
A sweet treat so decadently rich it's been named "Millionaire's Shortbread".
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened 226g
- 1/3 cup sugar 70g
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed 70g
- 1 large egg yolk
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 260g
Caramel
- 2 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk 825ml
- 14 Tablespoons butter cut into Tablespoon-sized pieces (198g)
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed (200g)
- 1/3 cup light corn syrup 80g
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Chocolate Ganache
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips 340g
- 1/2 cup heavy cream 120ml
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 5ml
- sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350F (177C) and line a 13x9 baking pan with parchment paper.
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Using an electric mixer, beat butter until well creamed.
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Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds.
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Add egg yolk and vanilla extract and stir well, pausing to scrape down the sides and mixing until ingredients are well-combined.
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Add flour, gradually (about 1/2 cup at a time), pausing to scrape down sides of bowl. Halfway through the addition of the flour, sprinkle in the salt with the beater still running.
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Don't over-beat the dough, you want it to be slightly crumbly to make it easier to press into the pan.
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Drop dough over prepared pan and gently, firmly, evenly, press dough into the bottom of the pan. To make it easier, I usually lay a piece of wax paper over the dough and use the palm of my hand to smooth the surface (and then discard wax paper).
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Bake on 350F (177C) for 20-25 minutes -- edges should be lightly golden brown.
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Allow to cool while you prepare your caramel topping.
Caramel
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Combine condensed milk, butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat.
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Stir frequently until butter is melted and ingredients are well-combined. Continue to stir constantly until mixture begins to boil (this could take several minutes, but you don't need to increase the heat).
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Once mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer (slowly bubbling), still stirring constantly. Continue to stir 10-15 minutes until mixture turns a rich caramel color and has thickened (should begin pulling away from the sides of the pot as you stir).
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Remove from heat and immediately stir in the vanilla extract and salt.
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Pour evenly over prepared shortbread, use a knife to spread evenly if needed.
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Allow to cool at room temperature for several hours or in the refrigerator for 1 hour before topping with chocolate.
Chocolate Topping
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Combine chocolate chips and heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat.
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Stir frequently until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
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Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Allow chocolate to cool just slightly for about 5 minutes, and then evenly spread over prepared caramel layer. Wait several minutes and then sprinkle with sea salt.
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Allow chocolate to harden (I recommend placing in refrigerator for about 30 minutes -- my family prefers these treats refrigerated anyway) before cutting and serving.
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Jenner says
Hi there! I am also curious to know if these can be frozen. What size pan for these, 9×11?
Looking forward to making these 🙂
Sam says
Hi! It’s a 13×9 pan, and I haven’t tried freezing them before but I don’t think that it would be a problem, just let the bars cool completely to room temperature before freezing in an airtight container.
Joan mosling says
I just had them for first time at London’s V&A museum cafe.
They were exquisite & by far best dessert I’ve had in a long time!
Anxious to make them.
Sam says
I hope you love them!! 🙂
Sue says
Would whole milk instead of Heavy cream work with the chocolate?
Sam says
Hi Sue, I think it could work if you added butter as well, I haven’t tried this substitution before but here is a recipe that I found that might be helpful: https://www.itsyummi.com/making-chocolate-ganache-without-heavy-cream/
Cheryl says
My Carmel is separating from the shortbread how can I prevent this from happening
Sam says
Hmm, I haven’t had this happen before, is this after you’ve added it and allowed it to set that it’s not sticking together? The shortbread wasn’t cold when you added the caramel to it, was it?
Hayder says
Poke holes with a fork so it has something to grab
Kash says
I’ve just spent the last twenty minutes trawling the interwebs for this recipe! I used this as the basis for my own recipe a few months ago (I added pecans to the shortbread and maple syrup to the caramel – yum!) and they were so amazing that I vowed I would make these for christmas presents this year. I’m so happy to find the recipe again – to the kitchen!!
Sam says
I hope you LOVE it!!! 🙂
Ariya Stegall says
I’m making a test batch of these tonight before my office cookie exchange next week and I’m so excited to see how they come out, but I was curious how you got the weight measurements for the ingredients. I usually go by weight because I find it more accurate, but all of my weight measurements seem to be way different than the volume, e.g. 260g of flour measured out on my digital scale is less than 2 cups. Would you recommend going by weight or volume with this recipe?
Sam says
Hi Ariya! I would go by weight. Flour can vary big time depending on how it’s measured (scooped, spooned and leveled, etc… I always recommend spooning then leveling it) so your best bet is always to use grams if you have the option, so I recommend using the weight measurements. I know that some people use conversion calculators to translate their cups to grams, but I always actually weigh my ingredients so 260 grams is exactly what my flour measured out to, so you won’t go wrong using that weight. I hope that helps and I hope these turned out great for you!!
Cat McInroy says
Thank you for sharing this very tasty recipe! I made it this evening. Can I make a suggestion for the caramel instruction? Most people under cook caramel for fear of burning it. However, if you tell your readers to cook their caramel to the firm ball stage (245-250F/116-120C) the bars will hold their shape nicely when cut and left at room temperature but have the correct softness in the caramel. Properly cooked caramel has a rich deep caramel colour and the taste is so much more complex, but for an inexperienced baker my idea of dark and their idea of dark are completely different. I’m a Pastry Chef and find when I arm my students with a candy thermometer, their confidence soars! Merry Christmas from The Great White North of Canada!
Sam says
Thank you for the tip, Cat! You are right, that will be helpful and I will add it to the recipe, thank you for the suggestion! 🙂
Merry Christmas!
rebecca says
i did a twist to mine i put a layer of milk chocolet and ad purple and blue chocolet and swerlled is thru the top looks great gives it colors
Sam says
That sounds beautiful! If you’re on Facebook you should share a picture in my Baker’s Club!!
Maria says
This was simple & awesome. Would you recommend your favorite brands for the ingredients (I.e. nestle condensed milk)?
Karen says
Hi Sam, thanks so much for the lovely recipe!
After I made this, I realized that I actually wanted to have a thicker layer of chocolate on top (I’m a huge chocolate fan…), but it was too late for me to run to the store to get it 🙁
So my question is: do you think it would be okay if I let this cool overnight, and then I add another layer of melted chocolate on top the next day? Would it ruin the whole thing? Or should I better just leave it as is, and then double up on my chocolate in my next batch? (I’m a new-ish baker, and am still trying to figure all this out haha excuse me if the answer might be too glaringly obvious!!)
Thanks so much!!!
Sam says
while I haven’t tried it before, I don’t *think* it would be a problem. The heat of the second layer should melt the first layer just enough for the two layers of chocolate to meld together, just let it cool after you pour, as you did with the first layer 🙂
I hope that helps!!
Laurey says
Mine fell apart and there was too much of the middle section, it was oozing out and I only used one can of condensed milk. Also hard to cut as chocolate cracked.
Sam says
If you only used one can of condensed milk did you halve the rest of the filling ingredients? because if not, that’s why it was oozing, you need to keep the ratios, meaning use 2 cans of condensed milk, or it will be too runny. This in turn could have impacted the structure of the shortbread crust (too much moisture on the crust) and could be why yours fell apart.
The chocolate is also like a ganache so it’s quite soft and not prone to cracking when cut, did you alter any of the ingredients for that?
Jennifer says
I made these for Memorial Day weekend. My roommate had been pestering for months to make him shortbread cookies but I wanted something more. I came across this recipe and that was it for me! We absolutely love these. It’s like a twix bar but better! 20 minutes bake time was spot on for the shortbread.
Sam says
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed them, Jennifer! These are definitely a step above regular shortbread cookies!
Thank you for commenting to let me know how it turned out for you! 🙂
Maria says
I found this recipe to be way too sweet (I don’t know what I was expecting lol, so that’s my fault) but I think it would be improved with a thinner layer of caramel. It kind of overpowers the delicious shortbread underneath. So unless you’re a huge caramel fan/like your dessert to be super sweet, id recommend cutting the caramel recipe in half. Otherwise delicious and best served chilled!
Sara says
I’m not sure about the proportions of condensed milk to butter and sugar for the caramel. Mine turned out way too liquid like. It didn’t set at all and just stayed liquid. Otherwise, the shortbread turned out pretty nicely, buttery texture.
Sam says
It sounds like the caramel may have just needed to cook longer if it was still liquidy. Glad you liked the shortbread though!