Millionaire Shortbread

About a week ago I made Sticky Date Pudding for a friend's birthday. This was topped by caramel sauce, which I had made before but my first attempt this time didn't work out!

I left this on my stovetop, not knowing what to do with it. I couldn't just throw it out, so I finally added a bit more water, and reheated it until it all dissolved. I then followed the usual process, added a bit more brown sugar because I took it off the heat too soon, and presto! Delicous caramel sauce.

The only problem now was that I had no immediate use for it, and no space in my freezer. Most people I know here who live by themselves don't seem to have much in their freezers, but mine always seems to be packed. Right now it's a stuff-everything-in-and-close-the-door-as-fast-as-possible-before-anything-falls-out kind of situation!

That meant I had to do something with it right away. After a bit of searching, I found a recipe for Millionaire Shortbread. When I worked at the coffee shop in Edinburgh this was one of my favourite snacks, despite how sickly sweet and fattening it is! (or maybe because of that....) I had actually kind of forgotten about it, but my memory came back quick!

The only problem was that my caramel sauce is quite runny at room temperature, and I didn't want it spilling out of the slices! I had to find a way to solidify it. I poured a bit on some baking paper and baked it in the oven for a few minutes. It bubbled up like crazy, and when I took it out and let it cool down a bit, the edges had hardened into a delicious, crispy, chewy toffee. Yum.

Problem solved. I followed the Millionaire Shortbread recipe I found on allrecipes.co.uk (The US version is one of the recipe sites I use most often - I didn't know until now there was a UK version!) but used my own caramel sauce. Once I'd baked the shortbread and poured the caramel sauce on, I baked it in the oven for about 10 minutes, so it would harden a bit, then let it cool before I put the chocolate on.

This was not too different from what I remember, but it came out SO ridiculously sweet I immediately wished for a large glass of milk to drink with it. Perhaps if I'd eaten more of the base, it would have counteracted the intense sweetness of the caramel and it would have been better, but much of the base stayed stuck in the pan. It was quite crumbly, so if I make it again, I'll probably use a different recipe for the base.

Not that any of that matters. I took it to work and it disappeared in no time!