Authentic millionaire’s shortbread, or caramel shortcake, as it’s sometimes called, is a classic Scottish treat. Why make a faux version of this recipe when you can make this authentic Scottish recipe?
Originally published January 23, 2014
If you have a sweet tooth, or know someone who does, then this authentic millionaire’s shortbread is sure to be a recipe you’ll want to try.
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I’ve seen lots of recipes for what is supposed to be authentic millionaire’s shortbread, but they simply don’t make the cut. In fact, one of the top recipes from a google search brings up a recipe which is called “Millionaire’s Shortbread”.
Authentic Scottish Shortbread made with 3 ingredients.
However, the shortbread shouldn’t have 7 ingredients in it. The caramel shouldn’t have corn syrup in it, and the chocolate topping isn’t just chocolate, but a ganache and it’s topped with salt. JUST NO. I’m not saying the recipe is bad, I’m saying it’s not Millionaire’s Shortbread.
This is a simpler, more “well-adjusted” shortbread recipe, because the shortbread is, well–actually shortbread. Why call something a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when there’s no peanut butter in it? It makes no sense. This recipe comes from Melanie Andrews a Scottish baker and tea room owner for over 25 years in Helensburgh, Scotland. How much better can you get?
Another classic tea room recipe: Scottish red lentil soup.
It’s my duty as a Scot to let you know things like this about mangled Scottish recipes, the same as I do when I find ridiculous recipes pretending to be “Italian”.
These millionaire’s shortbread bars are great in lunch boxes, for bake sales, cookie exchanges, holiday gifts and so much more. They keep well for more than a week if they’re kept in an airtight tin.
Authentic Millionaire’s Shortbread
(aka Caramel Shortcake)
Slightly adapted recipe by Melanie Andrews.
Full printable recipes below.
Make the Millionaire’s Shortbread Base
Press the shortbread dough right into the tray. and bake. Allow to cool.
Make the Caramel.
This doesn’t take long.
Spread the Caramel on the Shortbread Base.
Once the shortbread is cool, spread the caramel on top and allow to cool again. Patience is a virtue.
Top with Good Quality Melted Chocolate.
Please don’t go to all the trouble to make this delectable treat and use subpar chocolate! Good quality chocolate is key. Callebaut is just an example, but there are many less expensive chocolate brands that are still very good (Trader Joe’s).
When Cool, Cut into Bars.
Enjoy the fruits of your labor!
You know this isn’t the last time you’re going to make these millionaire shortbread bars, right?
Love caramel? Here’s another decadent recipe for you to try: Guinness stout dark chocolate pudding cakes with salted caramel sauce. Or sticky toffee pudding, which has a gorgeous caramel topping.
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Authentic Millionaire's Shortbread or Caramel Shortcake (Shortbread with Caramel and Chocolate)
A rich Scottish treat with a shortbread base.
Ingredients
- one recipe of Butter Shortbread (below)
Caramel Layer
- 6 oz butter (1 1/2 sticks)
- 6 oz (3/4 cup) sugar
- 3 tbsp Lyle's Golden Syrup (available in British or specialty shops) omit if you cannot find it
- 7 fl oz (3/4 of 14 oz can/bottle) condensed milk
- 8 oz (1 cup) good quality chocolate (for top layer)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º F (170º C)
Make the Shortbread
- Press the shortbread into an 9" x 11" baking tray.
- Lightly prick with a fork and bake for about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Make the Caramel
- Put the butter, sugar, Golden Syrup and condensed milk in a heavy bottomed pan and heat to bubbling, then simmer, stirring constantly, until thick and golden brown in color (about 30 mins).
- Pour caramel over cooled shortbread, and set aside to cool.
Finish the bars
- When the caramel has set, melt the chocolate (I put it in the microwave on "defrost") and spread it evenly over the top of the caramel layer.
- Refrigerate before cutting into slices.
- Store in an airtight tin.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 20 Serving Size: 1 barAmount Per Serving:Calories: 256Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 106mgCarbohydrates: 32gFiber: 0gSugar: 30gProtein: 3g
How to Make Shortbread and The Scottish Baking Awards 2014
Classic and authentic Scottish Shortbread recipe containing only three ingredients: flour, butter and sugar.
Ingredients
- 340 g (2 1/4 cups) all purpose flour
- 113 g (1/2 cup) sugar
- 227 g good quality salted butter, (2 sticks) softened (you can use unsalted, which is the norm for baking, but add a good pinch of salt)
- a little extra sugar for sprinkling on top of baked shortbread
Instructions
Heat oven to 375º F (190 ºC)
- Mix all the ingredients together by hand or mixer, to a stiff consistency (the butter shouldn't be too soft, but also not straight from the fridge, especially if you use a mixer). Don't overwork the dough; stop when it just comes together
- Roll out into the shape of a pan or tin you want to bake them in. I baked this in an 8 x 8 pan. Trim the edges to the approximate size.
- FINGERS: Place it in the pan of your choice. One mistake many people make is rolling the shortbread too thin. Proper shortbread should be quite thick (no less than 3/4" or 2cm if making fingers). Tip: make sure your fingers are wide enough that a fork can prick them. Use a bench scraper or knife to cut the dough into fingers. Next, prick the shortbread with a fork, about half way through.
- ROUND: You can also shape the dough into a ball, roll it out into a round, and score into triangles, then prick with a fork.
- MOULD: (brush the mold with a little oil, and sugar first to ensure it comes out nicely). Roll out the dough, place over the mould and roll again to press into it. Remove the excess dough then turn out onto a tray. If your shortbread mould doesn't have a pretty design, prick it with a fork
- Place in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until slightly brown on edges. Sprinkle with sugar immediately upon removing from the oven. Shortbread shouldn't be darkly colored. Let your shortbread cool on or in the pan or tray before moving to rack to cool completely.
Notes
Store in a sealed container (an old Walker's tin is excellent) and keep in a cool, dry place. Shortbread will keep well for weeks, but is also excellent after being frozen.
If you plan to keep your shortbread for more than two weeks, I'd suggest freezing it.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 333Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 147mgCarbohydrates: 38gFiber: 1gSugar: 12gProtein: 4g
Nutrition information is only estimated.
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I can’t wait to try this! One question…when you give directions for the caramel layer the time frame given is 30 minutes. Does that mean 30 minutes for the entire cooking process or 30 minutes more cooking after it starts bubbling? Thanks so much.
Hi, I loved your shortbread recipe. You’re so right – it’s amazing how many recipes have multiple ingredients like salt, extract/flavoring, and on and on. I’ve done shortbread with a combination flour that uses all-purpose and rice flours mixed together (no more than 1/4 cup of the rice flour), but it’s still flour, sugar, butter. Anyway, I’m definitely going to try this recipe for millionaire’s shortbread although it will be hard to keep my stress-eating husband from scarfing the whole thing down in a night. One question – in the printable recipe, you note that the recipe for shortbread is below, but there is no recipe below or elsewhere. I’m assuming that you’re referring to your regular shortbread recipe? There is a link to that way up at the top of this blog, but it’s nowhere near the actual recipe. Just wanted to point that out in case others get confused. Looks yummy and definitely on my list of desserts to make soon.
I’ve been working on my traditional shortbread, thanks for your recipes! Okay… what are your thoughts on Scotch in the caramel? Would that be an abomination? ;-) I’m wondering if the flavor actually comes through in the end. I’ve tried baking with whiskey and it just evaporates out, total waste of good whiskey. I’m like you in that there’s no way I’m gonna add flavoring. Yuck. Thanks again, I love your traditional recipes.
Hi Alison, not an abomination unless you don’t use a Scotch whisky! haha! So, I think you’d have to add the whisky at the end so you’ll not cook it all out. I would try just one tablespoonful the first time and see how it goes. Let me know if you try! CC
[…] of my favorite treats is millionaire’s shortbread, which I haven’t made in ages, maybe this year is a good […]
In your millionaires shortbread recipe you say you do not use granulated sugar. So do you castor sugar? I live outside Toronto Canada and cannot get castor sugar. So for castor sugar I put granulated sugar in the blender and make it a bit finer. Is this the correct thing to do? Love your recipes.
Hi Iris, I don’t know where you see that I say not to use granulated sugar? You can definitely use granulated sugar for shortbread. Please let me know where you saw this as I’m confused.
Thank you! CC
Sorry, no idea where I came up with. Cannot wait to try this recipe and a few more l like the look of. Being from Scotland I really appreciate your recipes.
Fantastic, Iris! Enjoy, they are definitely a treat when we are missing home. :)
My recipe came from the Highlands in Scotland. Very old. It uses Lyles Golden Syrup and powdered sugar instead of granulated. For that little snap. The filling uses powdered sugar, evaporated milk and butter.maybe it’s a wee bit more toffee than super sweet caramel. I’ve been making it for over 30 years and have had many varieties in Scotland. I do milk and semi sweet choc swirled on top.
I’d love to try that, Rebecca! Are you willing to share? You can email it to me privately if you’re willing to share. Lmk, thanks!
How does it turn out with out the golden syrup? Does it turn out really runny?
The photos you see are made with Golden Syrup so I’m confused as to why you would ask why it might turn out really runny? I test my recipes before posting them so you can rest assured they will work for you given that you follow the directions and do not sub ingredients.
You mention that you can omit the syrup if you can’t find it. Im curious how it turns out without it
It just has a different flavor. I prefer the flavor with the Golden syrup.
I’m confused! You say that a pure chocolate topping is unacceptable; it must be ganache. But the recipe doesn’t seem to include ganache. Am I missing something?
Hi Mj, maybe I didn’t write it clearly. The recipe I found has ganache which is unacceptable because authentic Millionaire’s shortbread should only have chocolate, NOT a ganache. If you re-read it knowing this, I think it will make sense now. CC
I love Millionarie Shortbread, my three favourite things in one – caramel, chocolate and shortbread biscuit. Christina, your version looks absolutely perfect, I could eat a slice right now.
It’s probably to hot to bake though, right? Ugh, I hate when we have long heatwaves and I can’t bake for ages! Hope you make it soon!
[…] Millionaire’s Shortbread or Caramel Shortcake […]
I made this recipe 2 days ago and it’s amazing, hard to stop eating! I followed the recipe as written, using my kitchen scale to get the correct weights on the ingredients. I did have to add a bit of extra butter (between 1-2 TBS) to the shortbread dough because it was too crumbly. It might depend on the quality of flour being used. I was using grocery store brand all-purpose unbleached flour. Thanks for the recipe, this was the first of yours I tried and I’ll have to try some of the others now!
That’s great, Liz! Yes, if you weighed it, it could possibly be the flour you used. It is quite addictive :) I’m so happy you’ll be trying other recipes. Thank you so much for the review and note – I appreciate it much more than you know! CC
I just had this for the first time when I was in the UK this fall, so I couldn’t wait to try making it. ..but I really messed it up. I only had a glass pan and the shortbread stuck – should I have greased the pan? Also, my shortbread was crumbly and fell apart. The caramel sauce never changed color, even though I cooked it for half an hour stirring constantly. It was really sticky, so maybe I overcooked it? I used it anyway, but on the finished product you couldn’t even tell there was a caramel layer. The only thing I did right was the chocolate layer on top! ;) Can you advise me on where I went wrong? I’m determined to try again. Thanks!
Oh I’m so sorry, Christy. It’s no fun when recipes don’t turn out, but maybe I can help. ‘
First of all, I don’t believe the shortbread should have stuck to the glass pan, but if that’s all you have to use, try buttering it, lining it in parchment or waxed paper and then put in the shortbread. I bet the shortbread was crumbly if you didn’t use a scale (that’s my #1 suggestion for getting recipes right) to measure the flour and sugar? I bet there’s too much flour. If I could get away with removing cups on all of my recipes, I would. They are simply not accurate in baking (fine for cooking as it’s not scientific).
When you say that you can’t tell there’s a caramel layer is it because there wasn’t much to pour on? Maybe you did overcook it? You’ve got the chocolate down, so that’s good! Nancy Birtwhistle posted a video of my recipe yesterday, and maybe it will help you.
Let me know how it turns out next time, and I hope it is good! :)
How can you go wrong with this? Shortbread, caramel and CHOCOLATE! Hear, hear to real ingredients!
Right?! :)
Looks so good, and I never realized it was Scottish before! My Scottish ancestors never shared their recipe if they had one!
They held out on you, David! Haha! :)
I really want to make these! I’ll have to figure out a GF crust for my son, which will of course make them less authentic, BUT with your caramel and perfect melted chocolate,v they will still be delicious, I bet. And LOVED reading the above comment about how you travel so much. I get Scott’s emails everyday b/c of you. (Still waiting for my Madrid deal!) :-)
Dear Cristina, I have been making the Millionaire’s shortbread for years and found that if you cook the filling in the microwave on high power, (in a large bowl) it will cook up in about 5 minutes and will never scorch. Just stir it down every minute or so and it could not be more fool proof. I make it in a 9″ cake pan, , put it on a cake board and seal it with plastic wrap and tie a plaid ribbon on it. I makes for a very attractive and delicious gift. If you accidentally overcook the caramel and the butter separates, just stir in a bit of hot water and it will be fine.
I love your travels, it brings back wonderful memories.
Thanks for sharing that tip, Juley! I’m sure some readers will like to know this, too! You sound like a real pro and the gift with the tartan ribbon sounds like a winner! How lovely! I’m so glad you enjoy my travel posts :) More to come in 2019! Merry Christmas!
I love caramel shortbread bars! I’ve made these before (not with your recipe) and wasn’t entirely happy with it, so I’m excited to try these. One question, though, before I start… when you say ‘condensed milk’, do you mean sweetened condensed milk, or evaporated milk (US terminology)? I know there is a difference in what the two are called in the UK and the US.
P.S.- I’ve just booked a flight to Scotland for April into May through Scott’s Cheap Flights, staying for four weeks! I’m going solo but have friends in Edinburgh. I’ll use that as my base, then travel some around the country. It’s a little off-season so it was a good price from Dallas. I’m definitely a budget traveler! I love seeing your travel adventures.
Hi Carol, yes, condensed milk as in sweetened condensed milk (it needs to be thick). So happy to hear you’re going to Scotland! To be honest, you’re going at one of the best times. Last year, I was there the whole month of May (Scotland and England) and got the best weather! Think I pulled out my umbrella once! Nothing wrong with budget travel, I’ve done it most of my life and still do, although I’m treating myself a bit more in my “old age” haha! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! CC
Putting these on my holiday baking list.
You’re a gem! Happy baking!
This will never last in my house! My husband was drooling over the picture. It will call his name in the middle of the night.
Haha! That’s funny! Good luck, Katie! :)
Hi Christina. I always enjoy reading about your travels, but I have a question. How in the world can you afford all these trips? I certainly can’t seem to travel, even though I’d love to. What is your secret? I’m asking because I want to know what I need to do to travel or what I’ve been doing wrong all my life.
Thanks.
Hi Shirley, excellent question! Since I saved up my babysitting money for my first solo overseas trip when I was 17, I have made travel a priority in my life. I know that many people say they’d love to travel, but just don’t have the money. For example, when I was a social worker and made very little, I still found cheap flights and always had some trip (even if it was a weekend away an hour away) planned to look forward to. My colleague always complained that she couldn’t travel as I did (even though her salary was more than mine). The difference was I prioritized travel, and she didn’t. She spent loads of money on eating out, getting her nails and hair done frequently, going to the movies, full-service gas (that was still available!) and other things I didn’t do.
Now, I use Scott’s Cheap Flights/Travelzoo to find great deals for airfare ($299 to Barcelona last year, $400 to New Zealand and I just booked a flight for Paris for $298 -these are all round trip from LA). Sometimes I do stay with family or am hosted by tourism boards, but honestly, I just work hard and research places and choose to spend $ traveling versus other things most people do (NEVER spend a penny at Starbucks) :) AirBnB is another option for accommodation. My daughter just booked a trip for spring break to go to Barcelona and Porto and when splitting the accommodation with friends is paying $16/night in Portugal. Where there’s a will there’s a way! Hope this helps, Shirley! :)
I’ve never had this, but it would be fun to make with my granddaughters this week. Thanks for the recipe. It looks yummy and not too hard to do.
That would be a great baking project because it isn’t too difficult, Shirley. I’m sure they’d love the end result, too! Enjoy!
This reminds me of being a child at Christmas when my Mum always used to make it! My mincemeat Bakewell tart from your recipe was a winner on Monday btw!
Awesome, Suzanne! So glad you enjoyed the Bakewell Tart, too! Thank you!