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!!!