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2011 Cooking Club Week 39: Caramel Squares
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03-10-2011 2:24pm#1Edit 20/09/14: If you're using a tin that's larger than 9"x9", consider doubling the recipe. I just made them in a 13x9 tin, and they look SO SCABBY (they still taste great, though).
Caramel squares have a million different names, so I'm never sure what to actually call them. Millionaire's Shortbread, Wellington Squares, Caramel Slices... But I'm sure you get what I mean. These are kind of my signature dish - they're what I make when I want to impress someone. They look much more complicated than they really are. It's baking, but without the precision that goes with a lot of recipes. Anyone can make these, no matter what your cooking level is. And I can speak from experience as a child, children love helping with them (especially sampling the caramel!).
When I rediscovered my interest in baking, I'd lost my original recipe for these. I scoured the internet, but none seemed satisfactory. So I ended up putting my own recipe together, and it's pretty damn good! I prefer a thin biscuit base, thick caramel layer, and decent amount of chocolate. I find a thick biscuit base makes them boring, but each to their own! Any of the quantities can be doubled to your preference.
Ingredients:
Base:
200g plain flour
150g butter
75g caster sugar
Caramel:
1 tin condensed milk
2 tablespoons golden syrup
110g soft brown sugar
110g butter
Chocolate:
200g milk or dark chocolate.
Method:
1. First, prepare a baking tray. I typically use a 28cm x 18cm tin (NOTE: In the pictures, I've used an 8 inch x 8 inch tin. I use a tin this size when I want a smaller batch with REALLY thick caramel. I halve the base and chocolate quantities, but leave the caramel one the same). Cover it with parchment and leave aside. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar. Rub in flour until it almost resembles breadcrumbs. You can either do this by hand, or use a food processor.
3. Spread the mixture onto the prepared tin. Sometimes it can take a little work to get it distributed evenly, and into all the corners, but work at it!
4. Pop base into a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes, or until lightly brown. Once done, remove from the oven and leave to cool.
5. While the base is cooling, melt the rest of the butter in a saucepan over a gentle heat and add the condensed milk, sugar and syrup. Stir continuously and well (it'll burn and stick otherwise). Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 5 - 10 minutes. To test if it's done, put a dollop onto a plate and leave for a few minutes to check if it sets, and keep tasting it. This step seems to be catching people out, so I'll add a bit more: The caramel should be cooked over a medium heat at most - don't put it up high and then turn it down. Keep the heat consistent throughout - it should only reach a very gentle boil and should stay at that level. Stir the ENTIRE pot - alternate circles of decreasing and increasing size, making sure to get the very edges of the pot, and figure of eights to ensure the whole mixture is moving. It'll be a rich, thick, smooth, medium-brown when it's done.
I think the key is that the sugar needs to be completely dissolved - if it stays a bit granular, you'll have a fudge-like texture, but if it dissolves completely, it'll be smooth caramel. You'll be able to tell this when you put a bit on a plate to test - make sure you eat the test bit (helpful and tasty
). You need a slightly higher temperature for caramel than fudge, but it's more important that you yourself judge how hot your stove runs and how non-stick your pans are so that it doesn't burn. Don't get caught up in second-guessing yourself here - just take it handy, test it a few times, keep it moving and you'll be fine 
. If you think you're making fudge by accident, turn up the temperature marginally but make sure not to let it burn!
Also, nothing works as a substitute for golden syrup in this recipe. Trust me, I've tried with both honey and treacle and neither of them work!
6. Spread caramel over the base and leave to cool.
7. When the caramel is set, melt your chocolate and spread on top. There are two easy ways to melt chocolate: Either use a bain marie, or do it in the microwave. To do it on the stove, get a pot with some boiling water in it. Keep the water simmering, and place a bowl over the water, but not allowing it to touch the water. Break the chocolate up and slowly melt. Otherwise, do it in the microwave, but only zap it for 20-30 second intervals at a time. After each round, stir it before going again to prevent burning.
8. Leave to cool and set in the fridge.
9. Cut up into pieces and enjoy!
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Comments
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Really :eek:
Every tin of Carnation Condensed Milk has a Millionaire Slices recipe on it!
These are smashing by the way, extremely more-ish
Some misguided recipe writers seem to think that a layer of caramel as thin as paper, on top of a thick wedge of dry, crumbly biscuit qualifies it as a millionaire slice. It's just not cricket. I wanna see Enid Blyton-style LASHINGS of caramel! Right on Faith. Fight the good fight.0 -
Really :eek:
Every tin of Carnation Condensed Milk has a Millionaire Slices recipe on it!
These are smashing by the way, extremely more-ishWhen I rediscovered my interest in baking, I'd lost my original recipe for these. I scoured the internet, but none seemed satisfactory.
:pac:
I'm very picky. I found no end of recipes, but none were what I was looking for. A lot of them you could tell would produce those manky-looking (IMO) mass-produced ones that you see in supermarkets and the like. I want a recipe that is almost a heart attack in a square 0 -
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Hm. Biscuit - brilliant. Caramel - yummy. Chocolate... er. Maybe 85% cocoa, some cream and some butter doesn't make for a very spreadable chocolate. It tastes a wee bit dark. Nice, but not very I-could-eat-all-of-this tasty 0
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You can buy tin of caramel condensed milk thats doesn't need to be boiled. It's a lot less finicky if you're in a hurry. It's defo better than burnt bitsHoly carp, but boiling condensed milk's finicky. I stopped stirring for 30 seconds - and wound up spending ten minutes straining out the burnt bits and starting over...
I've used it before for banoffi in a hurry0 -
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They're even better the next morning...
...but my chocolate topping's even worse. Bleugh. Way too rich and heavy. I fear I may need to strip off the chocolate and redo it
Yeah, the entire thing is INCREDIBLY rich, so adding cream and butter to the chocolate would make it nearly inedible I'd say. I'd rarely use anything more than 50% cocoa chocolate as well, but that could be more to do with my dislike of dark chocolate. But I feel it works better with a lighter chocolate.0 -
Cut the dark chocolate topping off. Added some salt over the caramel and then a milk chocolate topping (slightly thicker than in the photos at the top of the thread). Herself and Bump now think they're possibly the greatest foodstuff on the planet Nice one Faith! 0
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I gotta say, this recipe didn't really work for me. The base was crumbly and cakey rather than biscuity and the caramel was more fudgy than gooey, despite only simmering for 6 minutes. Having said that, they're not bad, but they took a hell of a lot of effort (especially considering my honey blunder) and probably won't make them again.
Still - looks good, dunnit? 0 -
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Er, what now?neuro-praxis wrote: »they took a hell of a lot of effort
Biscuit base took about two minutes using a food processor.
Caramel took about ten minutes (though, like yourself, I had a whoopsie the first time).
Chocolate took about four minutes the first time and about ten the second (six of which was spent cutting off the chocolate from the first time because dark chocolate doesn't really work for this recipe)
Even with my two whoopsies, this struck me as being one of the easiest dessert recipes I've ever done. The only things I've done that were easier were things like eton mess, which really shouldn't be called cooking so much as gathering...
(ps. I found leaving them in the fridge overnight really helps with the caramel, and a bit of salt sprinkled under the chocolate on top of the caramel is really really nice)0 -
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Made these and made a total bollix of them. Im gutted!
Used gluten free flour and the base tasted amazing.
Chocolate was grand aswell.
But the caramel!!!:mad: It burned on me. The arm was broken off me stirring like a maniac... so I don't know how this happened. I brought it to the boil (it wasn't overly boiling, just bubbling a bit), then immediately reduced to a simmer. I dont get it...
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It should be slowly brought to the boil, and never more than a very gentle boil - literally just a few bubbles here and there. Don't have it higher than a medium heat either. Did you melt your butter first and then add the rest of the ingredients? Also, you need to make sure you're stirring the WHOLE saucepan - alternate with circles of decreasing size and figure of eights, to make sure there's no bit left to burn.
People seem to be really struggling with the caramel. I'll update my method a little bit there. 0 -
It should be slowly brought to the boil, and never more than a very gentle boil - literally just a few bubbles here and there. Don't have it higher than a medium heat either. Did you melt your butter first and then add the rest of the ingredients? Also, you need to make sure you're stirring the WHOLE saucepan - alternate with circles of decreasing size and figure of eights, to make sure there's no bit left to burn.
People seem to be really struggling with the caramel. I'll update my method a little bit there.
Yeah. feck it. I think I had it on about 3 but then read the recipe and it said to boil it so I thought i'd better put it up to 5 for a min or so.. And then distaster happened. I was doing figures of 8's, the star of david, the brigid's cross! Nothing worked. ha ha
I still went ahead and made them though. They're setting in the fridge. I'm gonna eat them anyway. I don't care! 0 -
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That's a shame, NP. Judging by your picture, the caramel could probably have done with a little longer cooking. Mine is usually a much darker colour. It's a sensitive thing though - after a while you just learn when it's ready.
Thanks for trying them anyway!
I was going for your lovely dark-looking caramel, but like I say, it started to separate at 6 minutes on the simmer. The butter began to rise to the top, kind of like how a ganache can separate. I don't know what I could have done differently.
Sparks...it was the most difficult dessert I've made in ages! I suppose because I felt stressed out with the first failure and then anxious when it began to separate. Also as Trí said, the arm was falling off me with the stirring!
Still, nobody eating them today has had any complaints. 0 -
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neuro-praxis wrote: »I was going for your lovely dark-looking caramel, but like I say, it started to separate at 6 minutes on the simmer. The butter began to rise to the top, kind of like how a ganache can separate. I don't know what I could have done differently.
Sparks...it was the most difficult dessert I've made in ages! I suppose because I felt stressed out with the first failure and then anxious when it began to separate. Also as Trí said, the arm was falling off me with the stirring!
Still, nobody eating them today has had any complaints.
To be honest, my caramel in the picture is probably slightly darker than usual because of a slight alteration in ingredients on that batch. But I've never seen the butter separate. I've no idea what might have happened there! Once the butter is melted, and the condensed milk is added, it takes a bit of stirring to get it uniform but after that, it shouldn't split at all.
Also, I stir lazily but non-stop. I wouldn't beat the mixture like mad while stirring. The best word for how I do it is languid. I don't know if that makes a difference, or if I'm just lazy Ronan|Raven wrote: »Very glently boiling the caramel works well. I melted my butter first then added Condensed Milk, mixed... then added sugar slowly and and syrup.. barely let it bubble then simmered at a very low heat. tested some on a plate and it didnt move..
Hurray! Here's hoping you enjoy them. 0 -
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If people are having trouble with the caramel, i'd seriouly reccomend a tin of the carnation caramel I mentioned. I know doing it your self is more satisfying, but buying some stufff pre boiled by carnation is better than separated or burnt stuff in your own pot.
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If people are having trouble with the caramel, i'd seriouly reccomend a tin of the carnation caramel I mentioned. I know doing it your self is more satisfying, but buying some stufff pre boiled by carnation is better than separated or burnt stuff in your own pot.
That's a completely different product. Dulce de leche is just boiled condensed milk, not caramel. It's also like advising people to buy packet soup, or pasta sauce in a jar. There's simply no comparison between pre-made dulce de leche and the recipe I've posted for caramel above IMO.0 -
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That's a completely different product. Dulce de leche is just boiled condensed milk, not caramel. It's also like advising people to buy packet soup, or pasta sauce in a jar. There's simply no comparison between pre-made dulce de leche and the recipe I've posted for caramel above IMO.
Aw crap! That's what I was going to try after all the burnt caramel stories. I have been known to burn caramel myself
Oh well, will give it a go anyway! Hopefully this weekend.0 -
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SUCCESS!!!
I melted butter completely, then blended the condensed milk completely with the butter, then added the golden syrup spoonful by spoonful, then the sugar bit by bit. Stirred in figures of 8's and wasn't as manic as yesterday. My hob goes up to 5, so I kept it on 2.5 for the whole process. It was absolutely perfect. A total pain in the tits and it seemed to take ages. But it was SO worth it. The caramel was stunning and the squares overall were fantastic. Thanks a million, Faith... They were devoured by various mouths so none left for photies.:(;)
Hurray! I'm delighted they worked out for you in the end 0 -
I've just made this. Well, half made it. I just made the caramel and poured onto the base and leaving it to cool. Just looking back at your pics faith, and my caramel is not near as dark as yours I followed the recipe to your exact updated version, so dont know what I did that its not the same color! Will post pictures anyways 0
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I've just made this. Well, half made it. I just made the caramel and poured onto the base and leaving it to cool. Just looking back at your pics faith, and my caramel is not near as dark as yours I followed the recipe to your exact updated version, so dont know what I did that its not the same color! Will post pictures anyways
Don't worry about that! There's a tiny bit of treacle in mine because I didn't have enough golden syrup at the time. That's what made it quite dark. 0 -
Faith, thank you for this recipe. They turned out absolutely PERFECT!! For my first attempt at them, I will deffo make them again. They were devoured thank god so couldn't have been happier with them although I was a bit freaked out by the colour of the caramel, but here is my shot
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I made these at the weekend and brought some in to work, where they werre devoured instantly! Delish.
I had no trouble with the caramel, but forewarned, I had everything measured and ready to go in to the pot so was able to stir continously. 0 -
Hm. Dark caramel, little salt and then a white chocolate topping (using G&B's white chocolate with vanilla) works surprisingly well. The vanilla in the white chocolate and the vanilla in the caramel seem to make it work somehow.
I need a better way to cut them than a pizza wheel though - it squashes down the caramel layer rather badly 0 -
Hm. Dark caramel, little salt and then a white chocolate topping (using G&B's white chocolate with vanilla) works surprisingly well. The vanilla in the white chocolate and the vanilla in the caramel seem to make it work somehow.
I need a better way to cut them than a pizza wheel though - it squashes down the caramel layer rather badly
I cut them before the chocolate had fully set. The knife/pizza wheel gets covered in chocolate, but it works!0 -
Cut them in the tin. If the caramel is properly set, it shouldn't squash too badly. I usually wait until the chocolate is set (in the fridge, because I'm impatient), and then cut them up using a sharp knife. It's never squashed on me 0
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