Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Bars – Delicious and festive shortbread bars with creamy chocolate and soft chewy caramel! Perfect for your upcoming event!
My mother makes the best homemade candy. The absolute best.
I’m sorry, but this isn’t up for debate. She’s perfected it over the course of 40 years and refined her recipes at both sea-level and high altitudes. It’s stunningly delicious in every way and her three most famous candies (and my personal favorites) are English toffee, peanut brittle, and soft caramels.
Her soft caramels seriously stay so soft and chewy and gooey and delicious. They have a deep buttery flavor and they are RICH. It’s really quite crazy because they are solid in their individual little wax paper wrappers, but they completely melt in your mouth and explode with caramely flavor goodness.
Anyone who tastes them is blown away. Absolutely shocked at how amazing they are.
One of these days I’m going to convince her to open a candy shop.
But she’s a stubborn bugger.
These shortbread bars remind me of my mother. In fact I took over a bag just for her. One day I’ll learn to make my mother’s miracle caramel, but for now, these bars are pretty dang good!! I’m thinking of making them again for a family holiday party. Everyone will be thoroughly impressed 😉
Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Bars
Ingredients
- 2 ½ sticks butter - divided
- 1 ¼ cups flour
- ¾ cup sugar - divided
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup milk chocolate chips
- ¼ cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and line an 8×8 inch pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1 stick of butter and cream together until smooth. Add flour and mix. Stir in milk. Mixture will resemble crumbs. Press into the pre-lined pan and bake 20 minutes until golden. Remove and allow to cool .
- In a medium sauce pan melt 1 1/2 sticks of butter with 1/2 cup sugar. Add corn syrup and condensed milk. Bring to a boil and then decrease to simmer 6-8 minutes or until mixture achieves golden brown color, stirring constantly. (*For lower altitudes, simmer time may need to be reduced 2-3 minutes, watch carefully for coloring!) Pour caramel onto cooled shortbread. Allow to sit at room temperature 1-2 hours or until caramel has cooled and set.
- Melt milk chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Repeat in a separate bowl with white chocolate chips. Pour milk chocolate over caramel and spread evenly with a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon. Drizzle white chocolate over milk chocolate and swirl with spatula or spoon. Allow chocolate to cool completely before cutting into bars and serving. Store in airtight container.
How much is one stick of butter? Sorry I’m from Canada and mine comes in 2 cup bars.
Hi Amie! Sorry about the confusion, I need to do better at including both measurements in my recipes. One stick of butter = 1/2 cup!
How long are these good for? I’m thinking of making some to ship to my husband’s grandmother. Are they still good about 5 days after making? Thanks! Can’t wait to try them.
Oh definitely, these will keep for a week or two! Just make sure to keep them in an airtight container or wrap them tightly with plastic wrap, that will keep the shortbread from drying out and the caramel from getting hard.I hope your husband’s grandmother enjoys them!! 🙂
Thanks! I’ve got the caramel cooling over the shortbread right now. I think I’ll need to ‘quality control’ at least one of these before I package them up…Or maybe I’ll just need to make an extra batch for us. 😉
No really, a second batch is probably a good idea. I was planning on taking these to a church group… had to make a batch of brownies cause I’d eaten half before the event! Ha! 🙂
amazing idea!! Looks totally awesome!!
Just a question: how could I replace the flour? I’m allergic to wheat (sadly, oh so sadly) and I’ve been trying arrowroot or rice starch to make myself some goodies… Do you have any sugestions??
Thank you!
I made these. Very tasty! But, I had problems with my caramel. I melted the sugar and butter until it dissolved then added the light corn syrup and sweetened CONdensed milk and brought it to a boil. I reduced it to a simmer and whisked it for over 20 minutes (just about 30 mins) and it finally, finally changed to a golden brown color. This resulted in rock hard caramel but at least it melts in your mouth. When it says simmer, does that mean keep it at boiling? I’m wondering what went wrong. I made sure all my utensils were dry. Thanks!
It shouldn’t have taken 30 minutes to finish the caramel, it probably should have been over higher heat, and you might have been waiting for it to turn really dark but after cooking for 5-10 minutes it should be done.
yOU DONT SPECIFY WEATHER YOU USE SALTED OR UNSALTED BUTTER IN YOUR RECIPE – i PRESUME SALTED?
I used salted, yes.