Millionaires Shortbread

 Okay before you get any ideas, no we did not come into some big sum of money.  I mean really if we did, do you think the first thing I would do is buy really pricey shortbread?  Yeah I probably would, never mind.

 So that should be our New Years mantra, "if we hit it big, buy cookies!" Sounds do able.

Well this time, at least, I am not talking about that.  I am talking about the shortbread I made, that for some reason is the shortbread of millionaires.  Wonder if Donald Trump eats the stuff, that would be weird.  But whatever, he is richer than me so he can eat it if he wants to.  As long as he shares.

When you open this, the stuff is kind of runny, and it looks gross.  It tasted great when I was done with  it, but to start, yuck!

  So this recipe was one of two shortbread recipes I made in one night, as the other one failed on a level so badly that I cannot even really talk about it yet, you get to see this one.

  I went to a baking show a while ago, you may remember the day, the day poor Hubby was in the car accident.  Just before I got the call I was sorting through the bag I got with all the coupons and recipes.  This was the one I knew I wanted to make.

See this? How is that going to be cookies, it's just to hard to look at.

And see it came together, but still I didn't trust it.

  Firstly, it was shortbread, and I have never made it, well not since college in that class where our teacher had us bake it so he could give it out as gifts.  So I figured why not.  The recipe called for a new product out, and there was a coupon, so it was meant to be.  A sort of review and free be in one.

Okay it baked fine, but I was still skeptical. 

  So I for some reason thought I had bought the new product, it was a dulce de leache sweetened condensed milk.  Anyway the night I was baking I spent over 20 minutes looking in the kitchen and my pantry for the darn can of milk.  I had all my stuff measured and ready to go, but I could not find the stupid can of milk.  I finally gave up and went and bought more, with my 2 for 1 coupon. I think either I will find it when I move out in 30 years, or I never actually bought it, I just thought I did.  I have done stupider things so I would not be surprised. ( just a small update, I found it, in a cake pan that I had loaded up with stuff to be put away, so I could find it all. Yeah that just seems like me.)

This is after it was cooked for about 5 minutes, it really did thicken up.

Millionaires Shortbread
By Eagle Brand

-1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
-1/2 cup icing sugar
-3/4 cups softened butter
-1 can dulce de leche sweetened condensed milk
-1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
-8x8 pan

And that just looks gross.

So once I finally had the can of stuff I got to work. This recipe was really easy, but it was so easy I really thought I was screwing it up.  I have been known to do that too, just in case you were not aware of it.

And not much better, sigh.

  So to start you cut the butter into your dry ingredients.  I used my pastry cutter but the stuff still looked so dry, I was worried I had screwed up, and I hadn't even really done anything yet.  But the directions said to press the stuff into your parchment paper lined pan, and I did and it came together.  So I had not totally ruined it; yet.

Okay at this point I knew it would be okay, but there was chocolate all over, I love chocolate.

So then you bake that at 350 for like 20 minutes, but it was hard to tell when it was done, so I may have done it a little too long.  Either way.  You have to let it cool before you carry on to the next step.  Then you take the can of milk and pour it into a sauce pan and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, this will thicken it up.  You have to stir it the whole time or it will burn.  I found it burnt a bit just from the time it took me to take it from the stove to the table to use.  So keep string   Once its done, spread it over the cooled cookie base. Now I put it in the fridge to set up as I knew it would be easier for me.  I then microwaved the chocolate chips and spread them over the fully cooled pan of stuff.  Then I let it set over night.

It's hard to see with my amazing photography skills, but there are three layers, and they are all yummy!

 The next day I took it out and let it warm up a bit, obviously not enough because my chocolate cracked like crazy, but you know what?  I didn't care, it was yummy and I was happy enough to bring cookie bar blobs to my friends.  They liked them too, so all was well in my world.  I would make these again in a heart beat, maybe adding some sea salt to the caramel and the top to make it a salty sweet treat, yummy!