The Best Shortbread Dulce de Leche ( Millionaire bars ) Chocolate Cake Recipe

by wsg team

Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cake

The combination of my three most favorite flavors all in one bar. It’s the Dulce de leche Chocolate Cake. I’ve also heard them called Millionaire bars. With such a name the expectation is quite high the scale and you won’t be disappointed.

Either way it doesn’t get better than this. The dulce de leche is soft and gewy, and the shortbread cookie is tender and sweet. Top that with a quality chocolate and you have the best dessert bar imaginable.

Shortbread is such a basic recipe of only four ingredients and yet it has a complex sophisticated taste. Be sure to use really high-quality butter if you can find it. Something along the lines of Kerrygold or New Zealand butter.

Now let us talk about dulce de leche.

Why use dulce de leche and what is it actually?

Dulce de leche, also called manjar, arequipe or if made with goat milk cajeta mostly in central America, is a product made by cooking sugar and milk, and generally used as a dessert cover, or as a spread. Its consumption extends to all Latin American countries, but also to France and to Grenoble! This deliciously sweet product has different names depending on the country in which it is consumed, and also has some regional varieties.

It is widely used in desserts such as alfajores, cuchuflíes, wafers, pancakes, waffles, ice cream and cakes in general. The flavor and color of dulce de leche are due to a combination of several browning processes.

Spanish for “milk jam,” dulce de leche is a kind of caramel that has a strong milk flavor. Today, I will show two approaches: the first uses sweetened condensed milk and fresh whole milk. However, I do not advocate the method that calls for cooking the condensed milk can in a double boiler. This milk jam is available all throughout the world, but since the seventeenth century, it has been notably popular in Argentina, where it is known as dulce de leche (pronounced doultché dé létché).

This one is consumed almost exclusively with a spoon (or a finger ) and is used in everything from pancakes to waffles to bread for breakfast. It is quite easy to prepare and keeps nicely in jam jars.

Caramel or dulce de leche?

I get asked all the time if there is any difference between caramel and dulce de leche. Well, yes there is a big difference. dulce de leche has a base of sweetened condensed milk(milk and sugar) and caramel has a sugar and water base. Although they are similar, you can taste more of a milky flavor with the dulce de leche. Personally I love them both and you can interchange them depending on what you want the outcome to be.

Delicious and greedy these shortbread of Scottish origin! The millionaire shortbread is a real love at first sight. With his butter biscuit, melting caramel and milk chocolate, he makes us all fall for it. Like the Twix, it’s irresistible. Not really a dessert, nor a snack, the millionaire’s shortbread is a delicacy to devour at any time of the day. It’s caloric but it’s too good and addictive…

It’s somehow similar to Homemade twix bars, though millionaire shortbread can be made with a softer and spongy texture.

Just like chocolate bars, these little cakes have the same peculiarities: crunchy, creamy and fondant. There is only the shape that changes. Here they are cut into squares but we can cut them like bars.

 

Make millionaire shortbread without condensed milk

Dulce de leche is made with condensed milk, so if you are glucose intolerant, a vegan or just don’t like dairy products one option is to make your millionaire shortbread without condensed milk and use coconut milk or other nut milk instead. Or just skip any milk altogether and add more caramel, date paste caramel or maple syrup as natural sweetener.

You can also, combine caramel with butter to get a similar creamy texture, but you are perfectly fine if you use only caramel for the recipe too.

Millionaire shortbread variations

With this exquisite dessert you can really out your creativity into action.Well, someone already did it and that’s how we now have such creations as billionaire’s shortbread, trillionaire shortbread and even squillionaires shortbread which looks like this:

squillionaires shortbread

squillionaires shortbread (is squillionaire even a word, lol? Well it turns out it actually is, the same as zillionaire and gazillionaire)

 

Millionaire shortbread vs billionaire’s shortbread and other variations?

Well, the main difference is what else other than the main ingredients like caramel(or dulce de leche), chocolate and condensed milk you add to it. If there’s peanuts, fleur de sel, various icing or other decoration on top or inside of the shortbread, then you have your unique wealthiest person in the universe richie rich, whose like me once in a lifetime shortbread bar ;-).  Did I just invented a new name for this wonderful desert? You can too, just add whatever your heart desires and cone up with your own unique shortbread bar.

How to cut a millionaire shortbread?

For cutting, we will use a sharp knife. It will be necessary to soak the blade in hot water and then dry it. By depositing the blade on the surface, under the effect of the heat, the chocolate will melt and a clean cut will be obtained, without the chocolate cracking.

What’s in this recipe?

Of Scottish origin, shortbread is a crispy biscuit that melts in your mouth. Now top it with a thick caramel and a thin layer of hard chocolate, and you have these awesome millionaire jam bars. I think it would be great to have snacks at the Super Party Party. What do you think?

The best millionaire’s shortbread or Shortbread Dulce de Leche ( Millionaire bars ) Chocolate Cake Recipe

 

It is not complicated to carry out. Ideally, we will use a mold or a frame with a side of 20 cm. First we prepare a simple shortbread dough, without egg. The shortbread is a crispy and crumbly biscuit. Then we prepare the caramel based on sweetened condensed milk. You have to be a little patient, it takes about 25 minutes. It’s very creamy, um… We pour it over the biscuit and let it cool. Finally, we prepare the milk chocolate topping that will be poured on the surface. It will be necessary to place the millionaire shortbread in the refrigerator for a few hours so that the whole hardens. It will only remain to proceed to the cutting before tasting.

How to store them

 

Once ready and cut into pieces, these yummy vegan and gluten-free millionaire bars can be stored for at least a week or two in the fridge and for a few months in the freezer. Just put them in a box or a freezer bag and you are all set up.

Share on Facebook
Course Dessert
Cuisine American

Ingredients
  

SHORTBREAD COOKIES

  • 8 oz unsalted butter room temperature (2 sticks)
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour sifted
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 20 oz of bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate top layer

DULCE DE LECHE CENTER LAYER

  • 1 14 oz can of condensed milk
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Instructions
 

SHORTBREAD COOKIES

  • Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
  • Cream butter and sugar on medium in a stand-up mixer.Next slowly add flour and then add the salt.Mix until thoroughly blended.
  • Press the cookie dough in the bottom of a 9 x 9 pan lined with parchment paper.
  • Bake for 20 minutes or until just turning golden brown.Do Not Over Bake.Remove from oven to cool completely.While the cookie dough is baking start the following recipe below of Dulce de Leche.

DULCE DE LECHE CENTER LAYER

  • Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, and heat on med-low for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
  • DO NOT let it boil.Stir until it thickens and turns golden.
  • Remove from heat and cool for about 20 minutes.Pour over shortbread cookies.Let cool completely.

CHOCOLATE LAYER

  • Next slowly melt the chocolate either in a double boiler or microwave.Once all the chocolate is melted pour over the dulce de leche and let it set up before cutting.Use a warm knife to cut the squares.

Notes

To melt the chocolate, bring 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm) of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place the bowl over the boiling water, making sure that the bowl does not touch the water. Remove the pan from the heat. Let stand for 3 to 5 minutes and stir.
Keyword shortbread bars

Nutrition:

Calories: 449 kcal / Carbohydrates: 50 g / Protein: 3 g / Fat: 26 g / Saturated fat: 16 g / Cholesterol: 56 mg / Sodium: 156 mg / Potassium: 130 mg / Fiber: 1 g / Sugar: 32 g / Vitamin A: 13% / Calcium: 3.3% / Iron: 10.7 %

Tips on making Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cake

Before you place the foundation, line your mold with parchment paper. With your fingertips or the back of a spoon, flatten the base.
It actually depends on your preferences whether you use pecan, macadamia, or cashew butter in place of the almond puree.
Replace the almond caramel in these vegan and gluten-free Millionaire bars with a date caramel or a coconut caramel to change up the joys.

With some imagination and if you feel adventurous you can combine dulce de leche with trailmix cookies or basically any other dough based sweets you like.

Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cake recipe

Wrapping Up

So, you see making Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cake candy or bars at home isn’t difficult at all.

If you have any questions simply ask in the comments below?

You may also like

Leave a Comment

Recipe Rating