Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Bars

5 from 4 votes

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Bars

These chocolate caramel shortbread bars are my spin on classic millionaire's shortbread. With a chocolate shortbread base, salted caramel and a triple chocolate marbled topping I think these bars could be classed as Billionaire's bars or even Trillionaire's bars too.

Prep Time49

Cook Time40

Total Time1 29

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American, British

Servings:

Calories: 359kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Equipment

1 x 20cm by 30 cm square-cornered tin around 3 cm deep

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Shortbread

120 g/ ⅝ cup Caster sugar
225 g/ 2 sticks Butter, unsalted (softened)
210 g/ 1 ⅔ cups Plain (all purpose) flour
100 g/ ½ cup Semolina (fine)
40 g/ ⅓ cup Cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon Salt

For the Salted Caramel

397 g/ 14 oz) Condensed Milk
110 g/ ½ cup Dark brown sugar
85 g/ ¾ stick Butter (unsalted)
2 tbsp Golden syrup
1 teaspoon Sea salt flakes

Chocolate Topping

100 g/ ⅔ cup Milk chocolate (chips or chopped)
75 g/ ½ cup Dark chocolate (chips or chopped)
75 g/ ½ cup White chocolate (chips or chopped)
3 tablespoon Sprinkles of your choice

Instructions

Make the Shortbread

Preheat oven to 150C/ 200F/ GM2 and line a 30cm x 20cm baking tin (at least 2.5 cm/ 1 " deep) with baking parchment
Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl and add in the other ingredients
Rub the butter into the dry ingredients. At first, it will resemble breadcrumbs but keep on rubbing in until it comes together in a dough
Spread the dough out evenly into the base of the baking tin, press down firmly and evenly. Prick all over with a fork and bake for 40 mins until. Let cool in the tin

Make the Caramel

Grind the sea salt using a pestle and mortar. Set aside
Put all other caramel ingredients into a heavy-based pan set over a medium heat. Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved
Turn up the heat slightly, and, stirring continuously allow to boil gently until the temperature reaches 112°C – 115°C (234°F – 240°F). This is the softball stage. If you do not have a sugar thermometer, you can test for readiness by dropping a small amount of the caramel into some chilled water - it should form a firm ball that does not flatten when removed from the water, but squishes when squeezed
Once the caramel is ready, take the pan off the heat and plunge the bottom of the pan into a sink of cold water to stop the cooking process, taking care not to get water into the pan
Add ¾ of the salt, stir well and taste (very carefully since the caramel is extremely hot - do blow on your sample a lot). Add more salt in accordance with your taste preferences
Allow to cool for 5 minutes then stir well and pour over the shortbread. Set aside for at least 2-3 hours to firm up and cool completely

Add the Chocolate Topping

Either melt or temper the 3 types of chocolate (see my tempering guide)
Once the melted/ tempered chocolate is ready, working quickly, spoon each type over the caramel layer and drag a cocktail pick or a thin skewer through the chocolate to spread it out to cover the caramel and create a marbling pattern (see my notes on what to do if the chocolate begins to set before you are finished)
Scatter the sprinkles over the chocolate before it sets and then let everything sit for at least an hour to set completely
Cut into 20 squares (tip: if you can be patient, using a warm knife to score through the chocolate helps to stop the chocolate cracking in all directions and gives you neater squares).Keep in an airtight container for up to 4 days

Notes

If your chocolate begins to set too much, put it in a barely warmed oven (50C/ 122F) for 2 minutes then check to see if the chocolate is fluid enough to spread again. If not, pop back into the oven for 2 more minutes and check again.

Nutrition