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Okay – I have done something completely crazy and invented Pink Millionaire´s Shortbread!!! My university´s baking society encouraged me to try and bake something for Valentine´s Day and I must say I felt slightly uninspired by recipes I found online. I recently created a post with a recipe for Millionaire´s Shortbread which was a real success, so I decided to go a bit crazy with that and completely re-invent it – fit for Valentine´s Day! So let´s get into the recipe for this slightly ominous-sounding Pink Millionaire´s Shortbread!
Changing up the Components of Millionaire´s Shortbread
Traditional Millionaire´s Shortbread has three layers: shortbread biscuit, caramel and chocolate. Since I wanted to make something for Valentine´s Day I was wondering how I could turn this bake into something both lighter in colour and also pink! So I thought a pink caramel and white chocolate were the way to go! With this recipe I will work my way from the top down and explaining some of my rationale behind this crazy idea.
WHITE CHOCOLATE
The problem with switching from dark chocolate to white chocolate for the top layer of my Pink Millionaire´s Shortbread comes with the problem that white chocolate is extremely sweet! So whereas dark chocolate usually aims to balance some of the sweetness from the caramel, white chocolate would have quite the opposite effect! So I decided that I would try and balance out the sweetness by introducing more acidity and reducing some of the sugar in the biscuit and caramel layer.
PINK RASPBERRY CARAMEL
For the caramel, I used less sugar and also white caster sugar instead of the brown sugar I use in my Classic Millionaire´s Shortbread recipe. To give the caramel a pink colour and add some more acidity to counterbalance the sweetness, I stirred in some puréed frozen raspberries into it! This worked surprisingly well and tastes amazing in the final result!
LEMON SHORTBREAD
For my Pink Millionaire´s Shortbread, I opted for a lemon shortbread version of my Traditional Scottish Melt-in-the-Mouth Shortbread recipe. To do this, I just added some lemon zest and juice to the dough. This adds some acidity to the bake and you can definitely taste some of the lovely lemon flavour in the end results!
Best Baking Equipment for Making Pink Millionaire´s Shortbread
I´d like to share with you a few of the extra tips I have for making Millionaire´s Shortbread I outlined in my other post. I prefer a square of Millionaire´s Shortbread that isn´t too thick and has roughly equal layers of biscuit and caramel (about 5mm each) and a thin layer (2mm) of chocolate on top. Also, I like the edges to be straight, which is why I´d recommend you invest in an adjustable square cake tin! I have this one by KAISER, which allows you to bake square cakes etc in anything from 24x20cm-46x38cm in size, meaning you only really need this one tin to satisfy all your needs!
This tin allows you to use the 24x24cm size I use in my recipe below, and will give you neat, clean-cut straight edges all around! If you don´t own (or want to invest in) such a tin, you can of course always use a different square/rectangular baking tin/tray that is roughly the same size. If in doubt, use a slightly smaller tin which will give you thicker pieces of Millionaire´s Shortbread.
I´d also highly recommend buying a small of-set palette knife to level the surface of your caramel and chocolate. This one from Tala is super cheap and I use it for almost all my baking!
Tip to Prevent the Chocolate from Cracking when Cutting
If the chocolate is completely set, cutting it when it is on top of a soft caramel layer will just cause it to crack! So my top tip for cutting the Millionaire´s Shortbread into squares, is to heat the blade of a knife with warm water and then pressing it gently onto the chocolate layer, melting it rather than actually cutting it! Works a treat and gives you perfect squares – I´ve explained in the recipe below how to do it!
More Biscuit Baking Recipes
While I am not sure if Millionaire´s Shortbread is classed as a biscuit (Surely? What else would it be?), I have a lot more other biscuit recipes on my blog that you might want to check out!
- Traditional Millionaire´s Shortbread
- Chocolate Digestive Biscuits
- Viennese Whirls
- Paul´s Wagon Wheels | Bake Off Technical Challenge
- Mixed Nut Butter Cookies | Vegan/Dairy-free
- Gingernut Biscuits
- Best-ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Maple Walnut Biscuits
- German “Haselnussbrot” | Hazelnut Biscuits Dipped in Chocolate
- Coconut Stars with Coconut Icing
- Salted Peanut and Apricot Florentines
- Gingerbread Men | Best Gingerbread Recipe
Pink Millionaire´s Shortbread | Lemon, Raspberry and White Chocolate
Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE SHORTBREAD:
- 225g plain flour
- 75g caster sugar
- 150g butter, cubed
- Zest of 2 medium lemons
- Juice of 1 medium lemon
FOR THE CARAMEL LAYER:
- 100g butter
- 75g caster sugar
- 1 tin (394g) condensed milk
- 200g frozen raspberries, defrosted
FOR THE CHOCOLATE LAYER:
- 250g white chocolate
- Pink gel food colouring
- Colourful sprinkles (I used Hundreds and Thousands), optional
YOU WILL ALSO NEED:
- 24×24 cm square cake tin (or an adjustable one like this)
- Small, angled palette knife
- Hand blender
- Piping bag
- Toothpick or skewer
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170°C. Adjust your square cake tray to 24x24cm and place it on a sheet of baking paper (or use a tin of similar dimensions).
- To make the shortbread, mix the flour, caster sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl. Toss the cubed butter in the dry ingredients until coated, then use your fingertips to break the butter into pieces. Rub it into the sugar and flour mix until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the juice of one lemon and start working the mixture into a dough, although it will still be quite crumbly.
- Tip the dough into the prepared tin and use your hands or the back of a spoon to press the mix down to create an even layer, about 3-5mm in thickness. Then prick all over with a fork.
- Bake the shortbread in the oven for about 20-25 minutes until a light golden-brown colour. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
- To make the caramel layer, start by puréeing the raspberries until smooth. Put the sugar, butter and condensed milk into a pot and set over a low heat. Stirring continuously, gently warm the mixture until the butter has melted completely and everything is well combined. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Make sure to stir continuously to prevent the sugar from burning, and boil for about 1-2 minutes until thick. Then stir in the puréed raspberries. Pour the caramel over the shortbread and level the surface with a palette knife. Place in the fridge to set.
- Break the white into a glass bowl and set over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl isn´t touching the water. Gently heat until the chocolate has completely melted.
- Remove about 2-3 tablespoons of melted white chocolate and stir in a little of the pink food colouring gel to turn it a light pink colour. Spoon it into a piping bag and snip off a tiny corner.
- Pour the melted white chocolate over the set caramel and use a palette knife to level the surface. Working quickly, before the chocolate sets (it will harden quickly if the caramel is very cold), drizzle over the pink-coloured chocolate, then use a toothpick or skewer to marble it into the white chocolate. You can then scatter a few sprinkles over the top if you like. Then leave to set completely.
- You can then cut the Millionaire´s shortbread into squares, I cut mine into 30 small squares. To avoid the chocolate top from cracking, warm the blade of a sharp knife by placing it into a glass of boiling water. Then dry it and place the hot blade onto the chocolate, easing it down gently to melt the chocolate layer slightly. You can then cut the Millionaire´s shortbread into equal pieces to serve.
