The sweet treat to make this weekend…
Oh boy, I love salted caramel shortbread. I love salted caramel full stop, to be fair. But this delicious treat is an absolute winner with my husband and our friends, every time I make this I get so many compliments. Little do they know it’s the easiest recipe ever!
A quick google search of salted caramel shortcake will bring up pages of results, and I had tried a few before I found the one I use every time I make this. I’ve adapted it ever so slightly, but it’s pretty much the exact recipe from the Tesco website. Their recipes rarely fail me!
I thought I’d share the recipe here because it’s such an easy go-to sweet treat! Just don’t think about how much butter is in it… I like to remind myself I don’t eat the entire thing.
The Method…
Start by setting your oven to 180C, and then greasing and lining a 18 x 27cm baking tin or whatever you have to hand that is roughly that size – I actually usually use a Pyrex dish and that works fine.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar and butter (I use an electric mixer) until creamy, and then add in the flour until it forms a soft dough. Use a fork to press the mixture in to your tray. I prick the mix a few times with the fork to ensure it cooks evenly.
Place the mix in the oven for around 20 minutes, it should be golden once ready. Leave to cool, and then make your filling.
For the caramel, it sounds a little complicated but it always turns out fine. Sometimes I’ll skip the golden syrup if I don’t have it, and I don’t overthink the cooking time. The caramel filling never seems to turn a deep brown colour for me, but it always sets fine. Once I couldn’t find condensed milk so I used the caramel version, it turned out SO GOOD – it was softer and more melt-y than the original, but everyone else I asked said they preferred the OG better so there you have it.
Place the butter, sugar, golden syrup and condensed milk in a pan over low heat and keep stirring the mixture until it’s combined. After a few minutes, once the sugar has dissolved and the butter is melted, turn up the heat and boil for around 6 or 7 minutes until it’s a light caramel colour at least. The important thing is to make sure the caramel doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan, so make sure to stir continuously from start to finish.
Remove from heat, add in the salt, stir again and pour over the base, leave to set for an hour or so.
Finally, your chocolate topping! I like to make a marbled pattern, so I melt two bowls of chocolate (one milk chocolate, one white chocolate) over a pan of simmering water. Next I smooth the melted milk chocolate over the set caramel and then add small teaspoons of the melted white chocolate randomly on top. I use a skewer or toothpick to marble the two, moving the skewer one way and then the next until a pattern has formed.
Finally, I like to sprinkle on some salt flakes and dried flowers and leave to chill in the fridge.
Once cool, slice it up evenly with a sharp knife and you’re good to go! The most delicious salted caramel shortbread you’ll ever taste. Heavenly!
Will you be trying this?