I've been wanting to make this since the middle of last week. I was just reading recipes and suddenly had a craving for it. Unfortunately I had no condensed milk and had to wait until I got a chance to go to the big supermarket to get some. I also did not have the right type or size of tray and didn't get a trip to Lakeland in Edinburgh until Tuesday. Admittedly, I had specifically chosen Tuesday myself the week before since one of my favourite authors was signing books in the Waterstone's on Princes Street that day, so it's my own fault I had to wait. Then there was finding a time to make it. Yesterday my boyfriend had work so it seemed a perfect time because it would keep me amused and distract me from being lonely.
For the most part it turned out okay. The underside of the shortbread got burnt in some places. My oven temperature is clearly uneven. I'm going to need to get an oven thermometer. I really wasn't sure if the caramel was right. I did everything it said and it thickened up but I didn't know what colour it ought to be and I thought it was a bit pale. I'm also a bit undecided on the taste of it myself. My boyfriend says it's fine, if a bit gooey. It is ridiculously gooey. The chocolate came out fab. The marbling effect looked so cool! Here's a shot of it before I cut it up:
I have discovered a love of marbling it seems. So a mixed bag of results really. I personally do not like it because of the caramel. My boyfriend says they taste fine, even the slightly burnt pieces. I'll be offering some up to his friends tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. As long as someone likes it and it gets eaten, I'll be happy.
Recipe - adapted from Mary Berry's Baking Bible
For the shortbread:
- 250g/9oz plain flour
- 75g/3oz caster sugar
- 175g/6oz butter
- 100g/4oz butter
- 100g/4oz light muscovado sugar
- 2 x 397g/14oz cans of condensed milk
- 100g/4oz milk chocolate
- 100g/4oz white chocolate
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 then grease and line a 33 x 23cm/13 x 19inch swiss roll tin.
- Mix the flour and the sugar together in a large bowl.
- Add the butter and rub it into the sugar and flour with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Knead the mixture together into a dough then press into the tin. You might think you don't have enough but you will be able to fill the tin with a fairly thin layer of shortbread.
- Prick the dough all over with a fork and then put in the oven to bake for about 20 minutes. The shortbread should be firm to the touch after this time.
- Remove and cool in the tin.
- Make the caramel by putting all its ingredients in a saucepan and heating gently until the sugar dissolves.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, before reducing to a simmer for about 5 minutes. You must keep stirring and make sure your spoon scrapes the bottom of the pan or the caramel will catch and burn. The mixture will darken as you cook it and should take on a thicker consistency.
- When ready, remove from the heat and pour over the shortbread. Leave it to cool.
- Melt the chocolate in two separate bowls over saucepans of hot water.
- When melted, spoon each type onto the cooled caramel in an alternating pattern.
- Run a skewer gently through the chocolate, particularly over the edges where the two chocolate types meet, to create the marble pattern.
- Leave to set.
- Cut the shortbread into squares or blocks. I did this whilst it was still in the tin but you can take it out to cut if you want.
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