Billionaire’s Shortbread with salted caramel

It’s that time of year again – EHH’s birthday!  What this means is that not only do I have to come up with some imaginative birthday presents but I have to make cakes for the 70 odd people at his work! I’ve set quite a precedent so I had to make sure that I delivered!

As it was EHH’s birthday, the first choice was his – Billionaire’s shortbread! I haven’t made this in a while and so was very happy to have another go. Last time I made Millionaire's shortbread, it turned out pretty well, but I felt that I could have cooked the caramel longer for a more intense taste: this time I cooked the caramel for nearly 25 minutes, stirring constantly and it made a real difference! The caramel had much more flavour and was deliciously chewy rather than just sticky and smooth.  I also suggested adding some salt to the caramel to add a bit more oomph, so I’ve added this in on this occasion.  Finally, I found some butterscotch pieces in the bottom of a cupboard and so decided to sprinkle these over the top of the chocolate, thus making this Billionaire’s rather than just Millionaire’s shortbread! The butterscotch pieces really added an extra dimension, a real crunch, to this bake and I would highly recommend!

Billionaire’s shortbread with salted caramel

Ingredients

1. 175g butter, at room temperature
2. 75g caster sugar
3. 250g plain flour
4. 60g butterscotch pieces
5. 200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
6. 50g white chocolate, broken into pieces

For the caramel

1. 100g butter
2. 50g light brown sugar
3. 50g golden syrup
4. 2 x 397g tins of condensed milk
5. I tsp sea salt flakes

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C and grease and line a deep 30cm x 20cm baking tin with baking parchment
2. Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and cream with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in flour until evenly mixed, forming a dough.
4. Press the dough into the prepared tin, then bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.
6. In a heavy based, non-stick pan, melt the butter, light brown sugar, golden syrup and condensed milk over a low heat.
7. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a simmer and then bubble gently for at least 20 minutes, until it turns a dark golden colour.
8. Remove from heat and stir through ½ tsp sea salt flakes.
9. Pour the salted caramel evenly over the shortbread, sprinkle with the remaining ½ tsp salt and then leave to set.
10. Put the dark chocolate into a heatproof bowl and melt over a pan of just simmering water (don
    
    
    ’t allow the water to touch the bowl).
11. Melt the white chocolate in the same way and set aside.
12. Allow the dark chocolate to cool slightly and then pour it over the caramel and spread evenly.
13. Sprinkle over the butterscotch pieces.
14. Set aside and allow to cool and set.    
15. Drizzle the white chocolate over the top of the dark chocolate and butterscotch pieces.
16. Leave to cool completely and then cut the shortbread into squares.

GBBO Biscotti

So having decided that Sunday was a baking day, my dismal attempt at apple scones didn’t put me off and I decided to delve into my new GBBO Showstopper book and have a go at something a bit different. I’ve been making lots of cakes recently so decided to have a go at the Sour Cherry Biscotti. I’m a big fan of biscotti and tend to make it at Christmas as presents, as it lasts really well.

 

So, it all started well and my KitchenAid had beaten the butter, sugar and eggs into a lovely light mousse-like froth. I merrily sieved in the flour, salt and baking powder and turned to check the recipe, only to realise that I had chucked in s-r flour rather plain flour – aaaaargh! Having no idea what the impact of this would be - not wanting to use up my white chocolate, almonds and sour cherries but also not wanting to waste all of the ingredients already in the mix - I decided to substitute the key ingredients and see what happened. A delve into the depths of the larder delivered some dark chocolate, raisins and pistachios. I threw these in, divided the dough in two, stuck it on two baking trays and popped it in the oven: hoping that it didn’t decide to grow out of control and splurge out the sides of the oven!

Timer on the oven set, Batch Number Two – this time with plain flour – was started, with the delicious additions (as per recipe) of white chocolate, almonds and sour cherries. After lots of anxious glances through the oven window, Batch One came out of the oven – and looked surprisingly normal! After cooling, slicing and baking again, Batch One were complete and looking surprisingly good!

Dark chocolate, raisin and pistachio biscotti

45 minutes later, Batch Two (white chocolate, almond and sour cherry) were complete and looked very similar to the not-so-disastrous Batch One!

White chocolate, sour cherry and almond biscotti

Overall verdict? Both batches were delicious and went down a storm with my colleagues and with EHH’s colleagues. They were lovely and crisp when they came out of the oven but weren’t quite as crisp this morning – perhaps I didn’t bake them for long enough? Not sure they would have held up to much of a dunking!    

Dark chocolate, raisin and pistachio biscotti

Ingredients:

1. 115g butter, softened
2. 125g golden caster sugar
3. 1 tsp vanilla extract
4. 2 large eggs, at room temp, beaten
5. 275g flour
6. Pinch of salt
7. ½ tsp baking powder
8. 100g raisins
9. 100g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
10. 100g pistachios

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / gas 4.
2. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light in colour and fluffy.
3. Gradually beat in eggs, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into the bowl and mix in with a wooden spoon to make a soft dough.
5. Add the raisins, chocolate and pistachios and work in until evenly combined.
6. Add a little more flour to the dough if it is still very sticky.
7. Dust hands with flour and then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.
8. Divide dough into two pieces and roughly shape each into a long, wide sausage in your hands.
9. Lift each piece onto a lined baking sheet (one piece per baking sheet) and pat each piece into a neat rectangle about 8cm x 25 cm.
10. Bake for about 25 minutes until just firm to the touch and golden (turn after about 18 minutes if your oven bakes unevenly). Remove from the oven (leave the oven on) and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
11. Slice each piece of baked dough (still on baking sheets) on the diagonal. Gently tip the fragile slices over so that they are cut-side down on the baking sheet.
12. Bake for a further 10 minutes until starting to colour.
13. Remove from the oven and set the baking sheets on a wire rack to cool and firm up before removing.
14. Store in an air-tight tin and eat within two weeks. 

Try alternative flavours:

• sour cherry, white chocolate and almond (as per the recipe in the GBBO Show stoppers book)
• orange zest, dark chocolate, dried cranberries and hazelnuts – with mixed spice and cinnamon instead of the vanilla extract
• lemon zest, dried blueberries, white chocolate and almonds