Cheat's Triple Millionaire's Shortbread

My Gran's Millionaire's Shortbread is my absolute favourite thing (although it is a close contest with Cheese Scones...). These are a bit of a cheat's version; they're made with Dulce De Leche, instead of the home made caramel which makes Gran's extra delicious, but they're a fantastic quick fix - waiting for them to be properly chilled is the hardest part!

You can get Dulce De Leche from any good supermarket, so give these a go!

Breadcrumbs

Cheat's Triple Millionaire's Shortbread

Makes 24 pieces

Ingredients

12oz plain flour

8oz butter/marg

5oz caster sugar

450g jar of Dulce De Leche

250g chocolate (I used 75g white, 75g milk and 100g dark chocolate for the triple effect)

Baked shortbread base

9x13in tin

170oC fan oven/180oC other ovens

Method

1. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs, then mix in the sugar.

2. Press the shortbread mix into a greased and lined baking tray, doing it this way makes the shortbread extra crumbly, which goes perfectly with sticky caramel.

Chocolate and Dulce De Leche

3. Bake the shortbread base in the centre of a preheated oven until very light golden brown, approx. 20/25 minutes.

4. Whilst the shortbread is baking weigh out the chocolate.

5. Once the shortbread is baked, leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then put in the freezer for 30 minutes to chill properly before you add the caramel.

Caramel layer before chilling

6. Once chilled spread the caramel over the shortbread, then put the whole thing back in the freezer for at least another half an hour or until the caramel feels solid enough to spread chocolate over.

7. Melt the chocolate (in a microwave is fine if you do it for 15 seconds then stir and microwave again if needs be), spread gently over the caramel - if you're using three types of chocolate start with the white first so you don't get any colour contamination. 

8. Chill in the freezer for another hour/fridge for at least 3 until the chocolate is completely hard.

9. Cut into 24 pieces; do this in the tin as it stops any slightly soft caramel escaping out of the sides of your Millionaire's. 

These are best enjoyed with a cup of tea, perfect for elevenses or afternoon tea! They'll keep in the fridge for up to a week, if they last that long...

Triple Chocolate!

This really is a great little cheat, it's not as good as Gran's, but when is anything ever as good as when your Gran bakes it?! 

Happy Baking,

The Baking Ginger xx

Finished Trio

Chewy Chocolate and Nut Cookies

Baked and ready to be eaten!

I made these at the same time as the Salted Nutella Cookies and I've got to admit, I think I prefer these; I'm a big fan of nuts in anything...

The trick to making them really chewy is the light muscovado sugar, if you've only got white sugar that'll work too, your cookies just won't be so chewy and gooey!

They'd work really nicely for elevenses, as part of a spread for afternoon tea, or hot from the oven with loads of vanilla ice cream - yum!

Chewy Chocolate and Nut Cookies

Makes 20 large cookies

Ingredients

Mixture with nuts and chocolate

125g butter/marg

100g light muscovado sugar

125g caster sugar

1 egg

2tsp vanilla essence

225g self raising flour

small pinch of salt

100g chocolate pieces (I used white and milk chocolate)

100g nuts (I used chunks of almonds and hazelnuts)

170oC fan oven/180oC other ovens

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy - once you think you've done give it another minute or so of beating to make your cookies as light as possible!

2. Beat in the egg and vanilla essence in two goes until it's all combined. If it curdles don't worry, it'll come back together when you add the flour.

Ready for the oven

3. Add the flour and salt, and mix until just combined then mix in the nuts and chocolate.

4. Put the mix in the freezer for 10 minutes or fridge for an hour just to make it easier to work with - it will be a very very sticky dough!

5. Once the dough is chilled, using two dessert spoons, put a walnut size ball of dough onto a lined baking sheet. Make sure the dough balls have at least 3 inches between them as they will spread massively whilst baking.

6. Bake in the middle of a preheated oven for 9 minutes; they may look raw in the middle still but they'll continue to cook as they cool and you'll end up with a gorgeous, chewy cookie once they've cooled on a wire rack - although as usual they're best when still warm from the oven!

Finished article!

I used the chocolate and nut combinations that I like, but the basic dough recipe can be adapted to suit your tastes, they're really flexible and once you've made one combination you'll really want to try others! You could add lemon zest to mixture to make the cookies fresh and bring out the flavour of the nuts, it really works, and would be great with other citrus fruits too!

They'll keep for 4-5 days in an airtight container.

Happy Baking!

The Baking Ginger xx

Four Shades of Biscotti

Biscotti varieties

Biscotti is something I’ve wanted to make for a while, I’ve read a lot about it and it seems like a really versatile thing, which I decided to put to the test by making 4 varieties at once! These are really crispy biscuits because of their high sugar/low fat content, as well as the fact they're baked twice.

They were all delicious; white chocolate, almond and lemon was my favourite, but play around with what you like to find your favourite combinations. If you want to make all one type of biscotti quadruple the flavourings, or double if you want to make two flavours.

Flavour combinations

4 Shades of Biscotti 

Makes 30 portions (7/8 slices of each)

Ingredients:

12oz plain flour

1.5tsp baking powder

12oz caster sugar

4 eggs (beaten)

Dough coming together

-          Lemon, Almond and White Chocolate

o       zest of 1 lemon

o       2oz whole almonds

o       2oz white chocolate

-          Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut

o       2oz whole hazelnuts

o       2oz milk chocolate

o       1tsp vanilla essence

-          Pistachio, Blackberry and Orange

o       2oz pistachios shelled

o       2oz fresh blackberries

o       zest of 1/3 orange

-          Chocolate and Orange

Dough + flavourings

o       4oz plain chocolate

o       zest of 1 orange

150oC fan oven/160oC all other ovens

Method:

1. Mix together the flour, sugar and baking powder using your hands then add an egg at a time and bring the dough together with your hands. 

2. Divide the dough into four and work on a portion at a time, the dough is very soft and sticky so make sure you’ve got extra flour to hand to keep things moving. 

After first bake

3. For each type of biscotti add the additional ingredients and knead gently to incorporate. Shape into a log, put on a lined baking tray and put into the middle of a preheated oven for 30 minutes. Spread the biscotti out as they’ll spread as they cook. 

4. Repeat for each type of biscotti – you can do them simultaneously if you like; whatever you find easiest! N.B. The blackberry and pistachio flavourings make the dough very wet, so add a few more tbsp of flour to compensate. 

5. Once they’ve been in the oven for 30 minutes cool slightly on a wire rack (for approx. 30 minutes) then slice into 1-2cm thick slices, return to the baking tray and bake for another 5 minutes on each side (another 10 in total), or until golden brown. 

Ready for second bake

6. Cool on a wire rack, then serve with hot chocolate, coffee or tea – they’re perfect for elevenses as they're best dunked! They will keep for 3/4 days in an air tight container.

Versatile, delicious and very cute; they’d make a great present wrapped in shiny wrap paper and tied with ribbon or in a box with tissue paper – perfect!

Happy Baking, 

The Baking Ginger xx

Lemon, Almond and White Chocolate

Pistachio, Blackberry and Orange

Hazelnut and Milk Chocolate

Plain Chocolate and Orange