Shortbread

This recipe is a combination of my two favourite things in the whole wide world; shortbread and chocolate. A match made in heaven. It’s a simple shortbread recipe, taken from the Great British Bake Off (a great show) Book of Baking, and I’ve also added some variations that could make it really interesting.

Ingredients:
100g caster sugar
260g flour

200g butter

40g cocoa powder

To make:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

Mix in all the dry ingredients thoroughly, then rub in the butter until you have lots of fine crumbs.

Tip into a round tin and press in with a fork or spoon, so it is packed tightly. Prick and score it also to make it easier to break into pieces once cooked.

Pop in the oven til firm – usually about 25 – 30 minutes. Remove, and cut along the scored lines. Then leave to cool.

Changes:

Chocolate Orange shortbread: add the zest of an orange for a bit of a kick and crumble in some chocolate orange pieces.

Lemon shortbread: swap the cocoa powder for corn flour and add the zest of a lemon.

Double chocolate: add chocolate chips!

A guest post from Jenny. To write a guest post, feel free to email rubyandhelen@gmail.com!

Millionaire’s shortbread is so scrummy and I think it’s so much more impressive than normal biscuits! Making each layer is really quick and simple, the only bit that takes time is letting the toffee and chocolate set, so make sure you prepare it much earlier than you need it (if you’re in a super hurry, pop it in the freezer to speed up cooling it down!).

Ingredients

225 g. plain flour

75 g. caster sugar

375 g. unsalted butter

380g. can sweetened condensed milk

4 tablespoons golden syrup

325 g. chocolate (up to you dark, milk, white or a mixture!)

8×8 in sq. brownie tin or similar, greased and the base lined with greaseproof paper.

Makes about 24

1. The shortbread layer

Preheat the oven to 170 C/gas mark 3/325 F.
Put the flour and sugar into a bowl and rub in 175 g. of butter with your fingers, clumping the dough together to make a ball.
Press this sandy shortbread mixture into the tin, smooth it down and prick with a fork.
Cook for five minutes, then lower the oven to 150 C/gas mark 2/about 320 F, and cook for a further 30 minutes until pale golden, but still a little bit squidgy, leave it in the tin to cool down and it will harden!

2. The toffee layer

Melt the remaining 200 g. of butter in a large microwavable bowl, then add the condensed milk and golden syrup.
Whisk the mixture well until the butter is thoroughly mixed in. Heat in microwave for 6-7 minutes until boiling, stirring thoroughly every minute.
It’s ready when it’s thickened and turned a light golden brown.
Pour molten toffee over the shortbread and leave to set, you can speed this up by popping it in the fridge.

3. The chocolate layer

Melt chocolate and pour over the fudge mixture and leave to cool. If you want to do a marbled effect on top, use half milk and half white chocolate, melt separately and pour them on top a little bit at a time. Swirl the chocolate around and make whatever shapes you like!
Pop it back into the fridge to set, which can take a little while! Once set, cut the caramel shortbread into pieces.

Happy baking!!