A couple of weeks ago the boys and I went to a local event called the Sweep Festival. It was a lovely day out with lots of fun, singing, dancing and food! One such stall is a favourite of ours to visit as they do the most delicious cakes; we all had a rather large Millionaires Shortbread.
This, subsequently, meant that William wanted to have an attempt at making his own.
Ingredients
For the shortbread
225g self-raising flour
175g butter
75g caster sugar
For the topping
150g butter
379g can condensed milk
100g golden syrup
350g chocolate
(We actually added 50% more on the above measurements as we found that the shortbread seemed a little thin!)
Method
We started by preheating the oven at 150c
William started by carefully measuring the self raising flour; he wanted to use instead of plain to make the shortbread rise and be fluffy.
(He learnt about this when we were experimenting with different types of flour)
He then shook the flour through a sieve into a prepared mixing bowl.
William then measured out the butter and the sugar and the placed them into the bowl with the flour.
Using his hands he started mixing the ingredienst together. He initially started by making breadcrumbs and once the mixture started was to thicken he rolling the mixture into a dough ball.
The mixture should be sticky at this point but it shouldn't be wet.
After William had greased the baking tin he used a spatula to spread the mixture flat.
I then placed the try into the oven to bake for 30 minutes.
Whilst the shortbread was baking, William measured out the butter, condensed milk and the golden syrup into a saucepan.
He then stirred the 3 ingredients together on a low heat until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth.
He then increase the heat and brought the mixture to the boil, stirring frequently, making sure that the mixture didn't burn on the bottom. The caramel, butter and milk will thicken and turn golden-brown.
Once the Shortbread had finished I brought it out of the oven and it was left on the side to cool down. Due to the movement of the shortbread whilst rising there was a gap around the edges and William was concerned that the caramel would slide down the sides.
With this in mind, William took the shortbread out of the tin and lined it with paper. He then poured the caramel mix on top of the shortbread and it was placed into the fridge to cool and set.
Whilst the caramel was setting, William broke the chocolate into a bowl and placed it over a small saucepan with a small amount of water. He made sure that the water and the bowl didn't touch so the chocolate wouldn't burn.
William then melted the chocolate over the pan of boiling water until it was smooth.
William then took the shortbread and the caramel out of the fridge and poured the melted chocolate over the top. Once it was on he used a spatula to layer the chocolate flat across the mixture and then placed it back into the fridge to set.
Once the chocolate was hard we took it out of the fridge and removed the paper. Using a warm knife I cut the cake into squares.
Note: I found it hard even with a warm knife to cut. I would next time turn the cake upside down and cut the shortbread first and then use the warm knife on the chocolate.
I am glad William wanted to use the self-raising flour as it gave us a larger shortbread base and I enjoyed the crunch with it. It is easy to do with children; there are 3 distinct stages so it meant that it was quite time consuming but due to this complex method that there was always something to do!
What do you guys think?
Would you give this a go?
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