Salted Caramel Shortbread

We're all coming up to that dreaded yet desirable stage of  HAND-IN DAY at uni. Soon our degrees will be over and we'll all be galavanting off and making a mockery of ourselves in the grown- up world of grey skies and office ties.

But until then, I thought I'd rustle up a bit of a pick-me-up, just something to make the journey a little bit more bearable for my lovable housemates (aww, ain't I nice?)

No, no I apparently am not, as i seem to want to attack their thighs and bums with these decadent treats so that I may look skinnier than them all!! Mwuahahaa!!!

Ahem.

Moving on, caramel shortbread or millionaire's shortbread has always been a favourite in the house, but I've started a new resolution. Everything I now bake, recipe or no recipe, has to have a twist of my own in it. Whether or not it's original, I must have thought of it organically from my head. This way, I can offer you some really easy recipes to follow, or you can just stare at the (not so) pretty pictures :)

So yesterday, Caramel Shortbread was on my list. And what goes AH-MAY-ZINGLY with caramel?
Chocolate.

And what goes well with chocolate??
Shortbread.

And what is the soulmate of all these ingredients????!!!!
Well, I'm still trying to work this out. But here's me having a guess.

For this recipe, I added sea salt which gave the treat a real moreish taste and it really enhanced the true flavour of the caramel, and not just for the sweetness, which caramel is obviously renowned for.

I'm a real biscuit fiend, so i made sure the base of shortbread was pretty substantial! I feel that with the other toppings being so sweet, it really helps to have that buttery (biscuit) base to even out the sticky sweet feeling you get when you're teeth are melting.

Either way, you feel way smarter and sophis(ticated) eating these, because of course, THESE ones have salt in!!

Salted Caramel Shortbread


Shortbread

• 350g plain flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 220g butter

Caramel

• 175ml condensed milk
• 110g butter
• 110g brown sugar
• 2 level tbsps golden syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp of crushed sea salt

Chocolate

• 200g plain chocolate (or you can go for milk if you find plain too dark)

You'll need:

• 8 x 8 x 1 inch baking tin

Here's what to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/ gas 4.
2. Grease your tin and line it with a strip of baking paper so that it hangs over 2 of the edges.
3. Sift the flour and sugar together into a bowl, add the butter and rub it in, til it forms a fine breadcrumb texture.
4. (This is where I'm obviously very lazy and have no really method to doing this, but do it this way and it'll still work :P) Pull the dough into a ball. Tear off parts and press into the base of the tin firmly, until the whole base is covered with no cracks or holes. Make sure to get it right to the edges.
5. Bake for about 15-20 mins or until it start's turning a light golden brown, but still has a very slight softness (it'll harden up as it cools). Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
6. Once it's cool, start to make the caramel. Put all ingredients for the caramel (APART FROM THE VANILLA) into a thick-bottomed pan. Stir over a low heat until it starts to boil. Cook for about 6-7 mins, stirring to prevent it from burning. If it looks like a golden brown, thick, gooey mix of awesomeness, Bob's your uncle.
7. Stir in the vanilla and pour over the shortbread base and leave to cool.
8. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Pour and spread this over the caramel layer. Sprinkle over some sea salt for luck and leave to cool.
9. YOU MUST WAIT UNTIL IT'S COOL. Otherwise, you won't have any left for later.
10. Loosen up the edges of the tray bake with a palette knife. Lift it out using the two over-hanging sides of baking paper. Cut up into bars and scoff until the cows come home.

OMMER NOM NOM!!!

Mini Raspberry & Lemon Bakewell Tarts

Still on my quest to finding the perfect pensioners party treat, I found a super cute looking tart recipe in "The Great British Bake Off- How To Bake" book. This one being for a mini blueberry bakewell tart recipe. 

They looked perfect! and just enough pretty and not too pretentious. The only problem is that i'm not a huge fan of blueberries, I don't think they really have much taste... Maybe it's just a problem I have :/..

Also, the weather recently has definitely not been optimum for celebratory occasions. So i thought i'd do my own filling, and bring a little sunshine to a very grey and miserable Matlock. (that's where the party was).

I'm all about the raspberries at the moment, and teaming it with lemon really sings out summer and sweetness to me. The result was brilliant, the raspberries were sweet and slightly tart which cut through the sweet almond of the frangipane. And lemon gave the pastry case a zingy, fruity hint.

Even people that were self- proclaimed bakewell tart haters ate more than one! And it was a big hit with the kiddies- so that's gotta be good :)

I'm a bit of a skimper when it comes to decorating, as i usually just wanna stuff them all into my mouth as soon as they come out of the oven... So i'm sure anyone else that follows this recipe can be way more creative!

I wouldn't say this is entirely my recipe as I just adapted my fillings and frills into Mary Berry's recipe. So here it is:

Mini Raspberry & Lemon Bakewell Tarts (makes 12)


Jam

• 125g raspberries
• 1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar (add an extra tbsp if you have more of a sweet tooth)
• A squeeze of lemon juice

Pastry

• 200g plain flour
• 100g unsalted butter, chilled
• 40g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 large egg, beaten
• Zest of 1 lemon

Frangipane

• 55g unsalted butter, softened
• 55g caster sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 40g ground almonds
• 15g plain flour
• Zest of 1 lemon

To Decorate

• 50g icing sugar
• Dribble of water
• Drop of pink food colouring

You'll need

• 1 x 5cm round cutter (I used a cup to cut with, approx. the same size as the base of the holes in the tray)
• 12 hole muffin tray

Here's what to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 C / gas 3.
2. Gently heat the ingredients for the jam in a small saucepan. Stir occasionally until the berries lose their watery appearance and the jam becomes thick. Press the jam through a sieve to remove the seeds and leave to cool completely.
3. Sift the flour into a medium bowl and rub in the chilled butter until it forms a fine breadcrumb texture. (Make sure your hands are never too warm when dealing with pastry, as it will result in a tougher pastry, and it won't be as crumbly). Stir in the sugar, and then using a palette knife, cut in the beaten egg. Press the dough into a ball and wrap in clingfilm. Chill for at least 30 mins.
4. Roll out the pastry between a sheet of greaseproof paper and the clingfilm until about 3mm thick. Use the cutter or a cup (like i did) to cut out 12 discs and line the bases of the muffin tray. Cut 12  strips of pastry about 1cm wide and 20cm long, and use these to line the sides of the muffin holes, carefully pressing together with the bases so they seam. Chill again for 15 mins.
5. Beat all the ingredients for the frangipane in a bowl with an electric mixer until smooth and well combined.
6. Prick the bases of the pastry cases with a fork. Divide the cooled jam among them and top with frangipane. Bake for about 25 mins, or until the frangipane is risen and golden. Cool in the tray for a few minutes, transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
7. Mix up the icing sugar ingredients until it forms a firm yet runny paste, capable of drizzling, and drizzle over the tarts.