Espresso Millionaire Shortbread Bars (2024)

These Espresso Millionaire Shortbread Bars, made with three layers of buttery shortbread, enticing espresso caramel and melted dark chocolate, are a reinvented classic you won't be able to resist.

I'm so excited to bring you this Espresso Millionaires Shortbread recipe as it comes straight out of the pages of my now PUBLISHED, yes-published cookbook, Simply Sweet Nostalgic Bakes.

An espresso-infused caramel is sandwiched between buttery shortbread and luxurious dark chocolate. This is a beautiful twist on a classic.

I'm thrilled to see it make its way around the globe and to share the recipes within. I've shared a couple of other recipes from within the book on my site - Caramel Apple Tart and Blackberry Glazed Doughnut Rings, both being super delicious.

My post will guide you on how to make millionaires shortbread so that you don't feel intimidated in any way. With plenty of hints and tips, and process shots, you'll see that whilst this treat looks impressive, the hardest part is waiting for it to chill! The impatience to slice into is a fact!

🧾 Ingredients Needed

The three distinct layers of this sweet treat are made with predominantly pantry ingredients.

The two items you may not have are condensed milk (I use Carnation brand) or espresso powder, but these are accessible at the majority of supermarkets or grocery stores. Here’s everything you need to know about the ingredients needed to make this recipe.

For the Shortbread

• Flour- All-purpose plain flour provides the structure for the shortbread along with the butter and sugar.
• Butter - I prefer unsalted as I can then control the level of salt required. Make sure it's at room temperature so it can get beaten well with the other ingredients to form the dough.
• Egg yolk - Just enough to bind the shortbread ingredients together to stop it cracking, and also to provide richness.
• Salt - I love a little salt in baked goods as it enriches the flavour and balances the sweetness. Regular, super fine table salt is perfect.

For the Espresso Caramel

• Condensed milk - In my view, Millionaire's Shortbread is all about the caramel layer so we've gone for an extra thick one today. That means using two whole cans of condensed milk. Go for the unsweetened version, as it can get a bit too sweet otherwise.
• Light brown sugar and golden syrup- These two ingredients help with the taste, sweetness and caramelisation that needs to happen
• Espresso powder - The hero of the caramel in my view. Use espresso powder, rather than granules as it will melt onto the hot caramel far quicker.
• Salt - A little extra salt in the caramel is one hundred per cent necessary to balance the richness and sweetness.

For the Chocolate Layer

• Dark chocolate and butter- Because the caramel is so sweet, I find that 70% dark chocolate complements that sweetness perfectly. The butter adds a nice shine and also makes the chocolate a bit easier to cut. If you prefer milk chocolate (like my children!), then use that.
• White chocolate - Ultimately, white chocolate is used only for decoration. The contrast between the light and dark is eye-catching and the signature 'look' for millionaire shortbread!

📖 Variations

• If you wanted to make regular Millionaire Shortbread Bars, then you could omit adding the espresso into the caramel. Or you could go the other end of the scale for a more coffee infused flavour and add a teaspoon of espresso powder into the melted dark chocolate. I guess it comes down to just how much you like your coffee!!
• If dark chocolate isn't your thing, then substitue with milk chocolate for a softer, sweeter, approach.
• Are you a Great British Bake Off Fan? If yes, then check out Sophie's beautiful take on Jaffa Millioanire's Shortbread - anything chocolate orange flavoured, I want to try it!

👩🏻‍🍳 How to Make

*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*

The time taken actively making these millionaire shortbread bars is actually not much at all. The majority of time is taken is waiting for the bars to refrigerate!

In terms of the steps needed to make the bars, let's break them down into three components. Shortbread, caramel and chocolate layer.

• The shortbread comes together all in one go in one bowl and is pressed down into the baking pan and baked.
• Whislt that is cooling, it's time to make the caramel on the stove top and which gets done in about ten minutes. It then gets poured right over the shortbread base and levelled out then refrigerated.
• To finish off the bars, melted dark chocolate gets poured over the caramel and then a pattern is made with the white chocolate.

Now that I've broken it down in this way, I hope that you can feel confident in wanting to create your own bars. I have plenty of process shots so that you can see what is needed and when. I got you!*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*

Make the Shortbread Base Layer

STEP 1. Preheat the oven and prep the pan. Preheat the oven to a standard 180C (350F). Grease and line your brownie/baking pan with a parchment paper overhang to make removal of the bar easier later on (Image 1).

STEP 2: Make shortbread dough. I use a standmixer fitted with the paddle attachment as it's easily accessible on my work surface, but electric hand-held beaters will work just fine.

Add all the ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla extract and salt), into the stand mixer bowl and beat until it forms a dough. You'll know that it's reached this stage as the mixture will have clumped around the beaters (Image 2).

STEP 3. Level in the pan and bake. The fun part! Tip the shortbread dough into the prepared pan and use your fingertips to press it into all the corners into an even layer (Image 3). Use the base of a measuring cup to help. It may feel like a thin layer, but when it bakes, it puffs to create a thicker layer.

Bake. Prick the base so that it stops it from puffing up too much in the oven (all the little holes allow the steam to get released from the shortbread making it more even). Then bake until a light golden colour (Image 4).

Make the Espresso Caramel

STEP 4. Make caramel. Caramel time! Out of the three layers, this one is the one you have to pay the most attention to as it has a couple of pinch points. Add all the caramel ingredients (condensed milk, butter, sugar, golden syrup, espresso powder and salt) into a saucepan (Image 5).

Set over low heat and stir until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved (Image 6). Take your time over this and do it slowly (it can take a full five minutes); if the sugar doesn't dissolve properly at this point, then you'll have a grainy caramel.

Now you can increase the heat to medium and let it come to a bubble. IMPORTANT.... stir continuously throughout this step!! The mixture is going to boil gently until it is thickened, fudgy and browned. You can see the deeper colour it has turned in images 7 & 8. However, it can catch on the bottom of the pan very quickly. If you have a candy thermometer, the caramel should reach 107C (225F).

STEP 5. Pour over shortbread. Once beautifully thickened, and fudgy, it's time to pour the caramel over the shortbread that will have cooled whilst we made the caramel (Image 7). Level the caramel off with an offset spatula and then pop the whole pan into the fridge for an hour minimum or leave it at room temperature to set but it may take longer (Image 8).

Make the Chocolate Layer and Decorate

A little note about this next step. If you set the caramel in the fridge, it will have chilled right down. When you pour the dark chocolate layer over it, you'll have to be pretty quick piping and creating the design with the white chocolate as the chocolate layer will begin to set pretty quickly over the cold layer.

STEP 6. Melt dark chocolate and layer. The last part of the millionaire's shortbread, and quite possibly the easiest part, is melting the dark chocolate and layering it over the chilled caramel. There are two ways to melt dark chocolate:

• The first is using the bain marie method, which I use in the book. It's the process of placing the chocolate and butter into a bowl set over a pan of boiling water on the stove top. The water must not touch the base of the bowl, otherwise the chocolate will seize. The steam trapped in the saucepan by the sug fitting bowl, will heat up the base enough for the chocolate and butter to melt with frequent stirring (Image 9).
• The second is in the microwave. Add the chocolate into a bowl and heat in the microwave in twenty second increments, strirring between each burst. Add the batter in once the chocolate has melted, and give it a good stir.

Whichever way you choose, once the chocolate is melted, pour it over the chilled caramel and smooth it out into an even layer with an offset spatula (Image 10).

STEP 7. Melt white chocolate and decorate. Melt the white chocolate in the (like how I mentioned in the above point) and pour it into a small piping bag.

Pipe thin white lines across the melted dark chocolate top as straight and evenly spaced out as possible (Image 11).

Use a skewer (or something very thin like a knife) to drag through the chocolate top. Drag it from one side (Image 12) and then to the next (Image 13) across the whole top. This misshapes the white lines in a really pretty way. If you didn't want to be so particular then you could drizzle the white chocolate over and swirl the skewer through in a random fashion.

As you can see, the white lines don't need to be perfect for the feathering to still look good. (It was surprisingly hard to pipe and concentrate on the photographing too!!!) Also because I'm not good at multi-tasking (whilst feathering lines!), I dragged the skewer a little too deeply through the chocolate and it set with the deep ridges in them. Drag the skewer with a lighter touch if you want an aesthetically pleasing presentation. Ultimately, it all tastes the same though!

Espresso Millionaire Shortbread Recipe

Classic Millionaires Shortbread Bars reinvented with a twist of espresso caramel. A heavenly combination sandwiched between buttery shortbread and smooth dark chocolate.

Servings: 16 bars

Calories: 402kcal

All recipes are developed and tested in Metric grams. I strongly recommend that you bake using digital scales for a more accurate result. I have provided a conversion to US customary in the recipe but please note that I haven’t tested using this method.

Nutrition

Calories: 402kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 157mg | Potassium: 45mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 658IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 1mg