Millionaire Shortbread

Today is the day! In a few short hours, my BFF will be home from Scotland and in my arms for the giganticest huge in the history of the world.

While in Scotland, she has fallen in love with a delicacy called "Millionaire Shortbread". You may have heard this called "Caramel Shortbread". Well, in Scotland, it's often referred to as Millionaire Shortbread because it's so rich. I think that name is way cooler, too. I have two recipe books that I bought in Scotland and both have a recipe for these squares but they both had some funky ingredients that I wasn't sure about. So, when I got a Desserts cookbook for my birthday, I was very happy to see a recipe that looked perfect. I made a batch last night, to have ready as a welcome home gift for Katie.

Millionaire Shortbread - modified from perfect desserts

For the crust:
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar

For the filling:
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 T corn syrup
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk (you can even make your own - I used half of Phoebe's recipe and it was perfect)

For the topping:
1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Place butter, flour and sugar for crust in a food processor and combine until crumbly. Press mixture into a greased 8x8 pan. (If you have a slightly bigger pan, it might work better because I found the cookie layer to be a little bit too thick. I don't have anything in between 8x8 and 9x13 so that was my only option).

2. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until golden.

3. When crust is nearly finished, begin making filling. Place the butter, sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk in a medium saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and simmer for 7-8 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture is a dark golden colour and very thick. The caramel will scorch very quickly so be sure to keep stirring!

4. Pour filling over crust and spread evenly with a spatula. Place in refrigerator to cool for 1-2 hours.

5. Once filling is cool, melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for 1.5 minutes. Stir and continue melting for 15 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until chocolate is melted and runny. Spread evenly over filling.

6. Chill for 2 hours, cut into 16 bars and enjoy!