Shortbread Caramel Bars
This beauty is fun to make and a new favorite. My sister in law requested some of “my one cookies” and was a little disappointed that I brought the wrong ones. I brought the OLD standby favorite instead of this one. Either way, I often find myself packing the recipe along with the cookies to share.
The caramel layer is cooked on the stove top. I have outlined the method my mom taught me for candy making on this post for Pretzel caramel, and the recipe below has more detail as well.
https://tableforfifty.com/caramel-pretzels/
I love to make the chocolate designs on the top. Surprisingly, the swirls are made with straight lines. I detailed how I do it in the recipe.
You will also find that making smaller cookies will serve more people and still taste generous because they are so rich. Besides then you have a reason to eat two… the first one was just so small! Sometimes, I like to serve mine cut into sticks instead of squares, like a Twix candy bar.
Shortbread Caramel Bars
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This Shortbread Caramel Cookie will remind you of a Twix candy bar.
Author: Karlyn
Recipe type: Cookie
Serves: 36
Ingredients
- Shortbread cookie crust
- 1 ½ cups salted butter at room temperature
- 3 tbs. brown sugar
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 3 ¼ cup flour
- Caramel
- 1 cup butter at room temperature, chopped into smaller cubes
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- Chocolate topping
- 1 12 oz. bag of milk chocolate chips
- ½ 12 oz. bag of white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy. Mix in flour.
- Use non stick spray on a foil lined cookie sheet or use parchment paper to line the bottom of the pan.
- Press cookie dough evenly across the sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes.
- Let cool completely.
- To make the Caramel, use a heavy pot to cook butter, brown sugar and sweetened condensed milk over low heat. Stir constantly at a slight boil until it becomes a medium Caramel color. About 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour immediately over cooled cookie crust. Cool completely.
- Add the chocolate top this way: After the Caramel has cooled, melt the milk chocolate chips in a microwaveable bowl stirring every 30 seconds until it is just barely warm and melted. Cover the entire surface of the cooled cookie and caramel with the Milk chocolate. Using the same method melt the white chocolate. While milk chocolate is still warm, zig-zag drip white chocolate drizzle about every inch or so making polka dots across the whole sheet.
- To blend the two for a decorative top: While chocolates are still warm, use a knife to drag lines through both warm layers of chocolate in straight lines from one side of the pan to the other. This pattern also looks more ornate after the cookies are cut if you slice the pattern on a diagonal. Pick up your knife and draw another parallel line ¾ inch apart from the other. Do this all across the entire pan. Now rotate the pan and make the same pattern perpendicular to the first lines. Do the same action from top to bottom to complete the design. DO NOT OVER MIX,
- Let chocolate cool to room temperature before cutting cookies.
ooooh those shortbreads look anamizg! my granny always brings those with her when she visits from scotland, it’d be fun to try making them! love the silver tray of perfumes too… a great idea!hope you have a lovely weekend 🙂