This Millionaire’s Shortbread is the perfect trifecta: Sweet simple, crisp shortbread, rich chewy, homemade caramel, and thick dark chocolate ganache. ย Sprinkle everything off with a scattering of sea salt and you have a decadently rich treatย 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 ย (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. ย Forks hoveringย nervously over their plates, eyes narrowed, skeptical, seeming to suggest — ย It could be an anthrax pie, how can we be sure it’s not?ย So much for gratitude.
But after explaining for the fourth time to my fourth sibling what Millionaire’s shortbread evenย isย (“It’s like a fancy, homemade, gourmet twix bar”)ย 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. ย 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. ย To make things even more decadent, it’s all topped off with a sprinkle of sea salt. ย 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. ย Surprise, it’s not a “true” shortbread. ย 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. ย 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
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, softened
- โ cup (70 g) sugar
- โ cup (70 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg yolk
- ยพ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ยฝ teaspoon salt
- 2 ยผ cups (260 g) all-purpose flour
Caramel
- 2 14-oz cans (792 g) sweetened condensed milk
- 14 Tablespoons (198 g) unsalted butter cut into Tablespoon-sized pieces
- 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar packed
- โ cup (80 ml) light corn syrup
- ยพ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Ganache
- 2 cups (340 g) semisweet chocolate chips
- ยฝ cup (120 ml) heavy cream
- sea salt for sprinkling
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (177C) and line a 13x9 baking pan with parchment paper.
- Using an electric mixer, beat butter until well creamed.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, softened
- Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds.โ cup (70 g) sugar, โ cup (70 g) light brown sugar, packed
- Add egg yolk and vanilla extract and stir well, pausing to scrape down the sides and mixing until ingredients are well-combined.1 large egg yolk, ยพ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add flour, gradually (about ยฝ 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. Don't over-beat the dough, you want it to be slightly crumbly to make it easier to press into the pan.ยฝ teaspoon salt, 2 ยผ cups (260 g) all-purpose flour
- 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).
- Bake on 350F (177C) for 20-25 minutes -- edges should be lightly golden brown.
- Allow to cool while you prepare your caramel topping.
Caramel
- Combine condensed milk, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat.2 14-oz cans (792 g) sweetened condensed milk, 14 Tablespoons (198 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, โ cup (80 ml) light corn syrup, ยพ teaspoon salt
- 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).
- Once mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer (slowly bubbling), still stirring constantly. ย 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). If using a candy thermometer, the caramel should reach 225F (107C)
- Remove from heat and immediately stir in the vanilla extract.1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pour evenly over prepared shortbread, use a knife to spread evenly if needed.
- Allow to cool at room temperature for several hours or in the refrigerator for 1 hour before topping with chocolate.
Chocolate Topping
- Combine chocolate chips and heavy cream in a small saucepan over low heat. ยยฝ cup (120 ml) heavy cream, 2 cups (340 g) semisweet chocolate chips
- Stir frequently until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
- Remove from heat and allow chocolate to cool just slightly for about 5 minutes, and then evenly spread over prepared caramel layer. ย Wait several minutes/until chocolate begins to set and then sprinkle with sea salt. ยsea salt for sprinkling
- Allow chocolate to harden (I recommend placing in refrigerator for about 30 minutes -- my family prefers these treats refrigerated anyway) before cutting and serving.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
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Thomas M Gaffy
I am not a baker. I’m just trying this out. It really worked perfectly for me a older novice. The shortbreak went OK just a little trouble mixing. The caramel took a little while but I have an electric stove glass top and had to change to a larger burner but after that it worked great. I’m giving it out to my various family members for Christmas treat. Thanks for a great recipe.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Thomas! ๐
Susan
Instead of making the caramel from scratch, can I just buy a bag of Kraft caramels and melt them?
Thank you,
Susan
Sam
That should work. ๐
Maureen Pritchard
I love this recipe! I followed it carefully and it turned out amazing. Thanks for the great instructions for temperature.I have never made caramel but this was easy to follow.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Maureen! ๐
Lee
Can you use golden syrup instead of light Bork syrup?
Sam
Hi Lee! I understand that golden syrup is very similar, but not having tried it I can’t say for sure if it will work. If you do try it I would love to know how it turns out. ๐
Lee
Worked out great with the golden syrup! Great recipe!
Lester
If I want to half this recipe, what size pan would I use?
Sam
You could use a 7 x 11. ๐
Nico
Iโm planning on making these and your peanut butter squares next week. Iโm also making lemon and grapefruit squares. Do you think I could use this shortbread recipe base for the citrus bars?
Sam
Sure that will work just fine. ๐
Nicole
I am looking forward to making these with my son. Thank you for the idea!
Sam
Youโre very welcome, enjoy! ๐
Morgana
Hi sam I really wanna make this recipe but unfortunately corn syrup is not available here in Australia..do you know what I can substitute it with?
Sam
Hi Morgana! Is glucose syrup available? I believe that is essentially the same thing.
Tatiana
Lyles Golden Syrup is the same – Woolies or Coles carries it.
Cary Allen
Hi Sam, I just finished making these for my hubby and sons to munch on this Christmas. They can hardly wait. The turned out beautifully. Thank you for a very easy and delicious recipe! PS I think that the pandemic is getting ยจcertainยจ people, if you know what I mean. Your log is awesome. Have a Merry Christmas, and the Brightest of New Yearยดs.
Sam
Thank you so much, Cary! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family. ๐
Christina
I would give these a zero if I could. This recipe is awful.
Sam
Hi Christina! I already answered your series of emails regarding your troubles with this recipe. Despite the fact that you were extremely hostile, condescending (outright mean, actually) and aggressive, I still offered to help troubleshoot and when you replied (not very nicely, again), I quickly identified the problem. If you recall, you had your heat up much too high, which caused your butter to separate. To this you responded by demanding I delete the recipe, which I just don’t think is fair and don’t plan to do. Next time just turn the heat down a bit and you’ll have better results, as many of the other commenters have had.
PS. I actually want to thank you, your emails were the inspiration for one of my recent instagram videos. You should check it out ๐
Katherine
Thank you for this comment; I had the same problem with my caramel and wasn’t finding an answer for why it was happening. I’ll be redoing the caramel with a careful eye on the heat.
Sam
You’re welcome, and I’m sorry you’re having this issue. While I like this caramel layer because it is an “easier” candy that doesn’t require a candy thermometer, it’s still candy and so can still be a bit tricky. Sometimes cheaper pots (I have plenty of these!) that have thinner bottoms can also make it a bit tricky to get things just right because it’s harder to control the temperature and the bottom heats too fast.
Ken
thoughts on swapping corn syrup with honey? i don’t have any corn syrup at the moment
Sam
Hi Ken! Honestly I’m not sure how it would work. I’m worried the honey would be too thin. ๐
Roger
Corn syrup helps prevent the caramel from turning sugary. This is information that I obtained from the food Network via Alton Brown.
AM
Can you ship these?
Sam
I haven’t tried it but I think it will work just fine. ๐
J.L.
I made these last year and shipped to family scattered all over the U.S.
They all loved this decadent cookie!
I lined a small plastic container with plastic wrap, placed cookies in pretty snuggly pulling the plastic wrap over them and securing container’s lid – boxed ’em up and then just sent them via USPS. No problem!
Making some right now to send out (getting a later start than last year!)
kirsten
Can I make these ahead of time and put in the freezer?
Sam
Hi Kirsten! That shouldn’t be a problem. ๐
Launa
These are a DREAM! They turned out so great. I was nervous to make caramel because I’ve heard that could be a bit tricky, but it turned out so nice and creamy. I like my chocolate layer to be a little more firm, so do you think these would keep okay in the fridge in a covered pyrex? If so, how long will they last?
Thank you so much for this recipe!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Launa! Yes this will do fine in the refrigerator covered for about a week. ๐
Brian
Making as I write! Will update when it’s finished.
Question: Do I remove the parchment paper before pouring the caramel over the shortbread? Bit of a baking novice here.
Excited to try this! We stumbled onto this dessert for the first time at a small park in Scotland and knew we had to make it.
Sam
Hi Brian! You can leave the parchment paper in until it’s completed. It actually makes lifting it out of the pan much easier. ๐
Saundra Moy
I made this before and they came out perfectly!! However this time my caramel seems cloudy and testes chewy and dry. Any suggestions on what caused that?
Sam
Hmm that is so odd. I haven’t ever run into this problem. I wish I could be a little more helpful here. ๐