Buttery shortbread crust layered with thick, chewy, rich caramel and topped with sea salt for irresistible flavor!
Calling all caramel lovers! You’re sure to enjoy my Easy 4 Ingredient Soft Caramels, Salted Caramel Chocolate Cups, and Vanilla Cinnamon Caramels.
I may or may not be writing this as I sit on the couch watching a Winnie the Pooh Christmas cartoon. I think I saw it once or twice before when I was probably seven years old because it’s all coming back to me. But it’s keeping my 8 week old babies entertained and let’s be honest, I’m not entirely hating it. It’s okay to be a little childish around the holidays. Right?
Christmas cartoons on Netflix are where it’s at this week as I’m doing everything I can to make this home away from home a little more Christmas-y. We won’t be home for a few more days and I’m dying to deck out our Christmas tree and hang the stockings. Speaking of stockings it only took me about seventeen hours spread out over 6 days to pick out Christmas stockings. I wanted a matching set for all four of us – FOUR stockings this year! – and online shopping overwhelms me.
Also? Pinterest does not help. The search for gray stockings eventually gave way to settling for some off-white ones. Still though, I’m pretty excited to get home and open a package on our doorstep.
But before we left to come down to St George for two weeks, I made this salted caramel shortbread and oh my heavens to betsy. I planned to give most of it away because who needs a whole batch of salted caramel shortbread to themselves right?
Me. Apparently I need a whole batch of salted caramel shortbread to myself.
It started with Oh I’ll just have one or two and quickly turned into oh my gosh half the batch is gone. I couldn’t help myself. That rich, chewy caramel. That buttery shortbread. That sweet-n-salty flavor combo that I adore so much.
Merry Christmas to ME.
But I’ll make another batch when we get home to give away. Make that two batches. One to give away, and one to devour guilt-free.
Salted Caramel Shortbread
Ingredients
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup butter
- 1 ¼ cups flour
- 1 tablespoon milk
Caramel
- ¾ cup butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and line an 8×8 inch pan with parchment paper or lightly greased nonstick foil.
- First prepare the shortbread crust. In a medium bowl combine the sugar and 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.
- While crust is cooling, prepare the caramel layer.
- In a medium sauce pan melt 1 1/2 sticks of butter with 1/2 cup sugar. Add corn syrup and condensed milk. (Continue to stir throughout the entire process) Bring to a rapid boil over medium-high heat, and then decrease to medium heat (should still be bubbling) 6-8 minutes or until mixture achieves deep golden color, stirring constantly. (I recommend a whisk! – see note)
- Pour caramel onto cooled shortbread, sprinkle immediately with coarse sea salt. Allow to sit at room temperature 1-2 hours or until caramel has cooled and set. I have had success with placing in the fridge to cool to speed up the process. Cut into squares and serve or store chilled in airtight container.
I’m making this and I think that the caramel is going to require a significantly longer cooking time. It’s already been boiling rapidly for 10 minutes and isn’t even starting to form a ball with the cold water test… So I am a little dubious of the recipe but your pictures look great.
Hi Michelle, I’d love to help! Not sure what you’re referring to with forming a ball – you don’t need to do that with this recipe…
Hi, awesome recipe! Quick question though, can I replace the corn syrup with anything? At home with a ten month old so can’t be bothered trying to find some at the shop haha.
Just tried this and it came out great and it was easy to follow! Just a tip make sure you scrape sides of the pot so the carmel doesn’t burn. Yummy recipe, Thanks!!
I made these last night and they are incredibly delicious! I can definitely see how one person can eat a whole batch! My only was that the shortbread crumbled away too easily. Did you use room temp butter? Should I pack it down very tightly into the baking dish?
Me too. My shortbread is crumbling terribly and I followed the directions exactly. Why? More butter??
This recipe looks great and I really want to try it, but you say to add the cream in the first part of the shortbread and I don’t see any cream listed in the ingrediants.
How is it phrased? If you mean when the recipe says to “combine the sugar and butter and cream together until smooth” it means to beat it together
I’ve been thinking about starting a blog but I think people just look for something all the time just so they can call you on it. Should I put mix together instead of cream together. Should I write cook instead of bake. Lol. Every little detail.