Last updated on December 30th, 2020 at 09:48 am
Millionaire bars are chocolate and caramel covered shortbread cookies that are otherworldly when they’re made with almond butter.
I love sugar and just looking at these millionaire bars, I can tell you that I don’t need to eat anything sweet for a while. That’s your warning: make sure you have plenty of people to share these. They’re ridiculous.
Millionaire Shortbread
Millionaire bars are shortbread with a layer of caramel and another layer of chocolate on top. For all intents and purposes, they’re homemade Twix bars. Like most food origin stories, the millionaire bar story is murky. What we do know is that Scotland is the home of shortbread.
The first recipe for caramel shortbread first appeared in Australian Women’s Weekly in 1970. Twix was introduced in the United States in 1979. Australian Women’s Weekly published the recipe for chocolate caramel shortbread in 1981 and in 1990, Scotland appropriated the layers of chocolate-caramel-shortbread to be titled millionaire bars.
And let’s just get the corny explanation of the name out of the way: they’re rich as hell.
Almond Butter Shortbread Crust
I was a little late to the almond butter party. I always thought of it as a nut spread for people who can’t have peanut butter, so I never really bothered with it. Who needs almond butter when you have the privilege of enjoying spreadable peanuts? This gal. After trying Rodin Ranch Maple Almond Butter, I’m a newly initiated member of the choir. Now I preach the flavor-texture value of almond butter in millionaire bars.
Of course, you can use all sorts of nut butters for this recipe. Peanut butter* would be amazing with millionaire bars. I probably would have tried that if I weren’t so obsessed with almond butter.
Caramel Filling
Traditional recipes use sweetened condensed milk and corn syrup for the caramel sauce, but I didn’t have either on hand so I made mine with heavy cream. I also used chancaca (Chilean brown sugar) instead of granulated sugar, so technically it’s butterscotch. And don’t worry—you don’t need a candy thermometer for this one.
Chocolate Layer
I use Trader Joe’s 72% Cacao Dark Chocolate but semi-sweet milk chocolate chips will work just fine. If you’re feeling fancy, you can sprinkle sea salt over the chocolate while it’s still warm.
This dessert is best served with a strong cup of coffee. In fact, I made these because I needed something to go with my afternoon cup o’ josé. ☕
Millionaire Bars with Almond Butter Shortbread
Ingredients
Shortbread
- 1 ¼ cup almond butter
- 4 TB unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ½ tsp kosher salt
Butterscotch
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tsp kosher salt
Chocolate
- 8 oz chocolate chips
- 2 TB unsalted butter
Instructions
Shortbread
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Line a 9”x13” sheet pan** with parchment paper. Set Aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer at medium speed, cream together the almond butter, butter, salt and sugar until it’s fluffy. Add flour a little at a time. Continue mixing until a dough forms. If it’s too crumbly to stick together, add a tablespoon of water and continue mixing. Press into prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and let cool for about 30 minutes.
Butterscotch
- For the caramel, combine butter and sugar in a saucepan and cook for two minutes over medium heat. Add cream and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir constantly for seven minutes. Remove from heat and let cool until it’s a spreadable consistency.
- Pour caramel over shortbread and spread evenly. Allow it to cool slightly before adding the chocolate layer.
Chocolate
- In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter and chocolate and stir until smooth. Pour melted chocolate over caramel layer and allow to cool completely before cutting—about two hours.
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