Millionaire's Bars

Millionaire’s Bars

Base:
125g (1 cup) flour 
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
113g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
50g (1/4 cup) sugar

Caramel:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces 
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

Topping:
3.5 oz / 100g milk or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped 
1/2 tsp light corn syrup
30g (2 tbsp) 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces 

1) Preheat oven to 160C / 325F. Line a 20 x 20 / 8 x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine together butter and sugar and beat with a mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated. Spread into the pan and bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Let cool completely.

2) To make the filling, combine together butter, sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk in a saucepan. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter in melted and the mixture looks smooth. Bring to boil and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens a bit and turns amber color. Spread onto the shortbread layer and let cool completely. Transfer into the fridge for a few hours or overnight. 

2) To make the chocolate glaze, combine together butter and corn syrup in a small saucepan and heat until the butter is melted. Remove from heat, add chocolate and stir until melted. Pour over the condensed milk layer immediately. Cool completely before cutting into squares. For the best results, slice only after chilling for a few hours.

Recipe adapted from here.

Soft & Chewy Dark Brown Sugar Coconut Oil Cookies

Soft Dark Brown Sugar Coconut Oil Cookies 

100g (1/2 cup) coconut oil, softened (not melted)

200g (1 cup) dark brown sugar, packed 

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1 tbsp light corn syrup

220g (1 3/4 cup) flour

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp soda

1/4 tsp salt

1) In a large bowl, beat together coconut oil, dark brown sugar, egg, corn syrup and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. 

2) Add flour, cornstarch, soda and salt. Mix just until combined. 

3) Roll the dough into the balls (I got 12) and place on a baking tray lined with a parchment paper. Leave a lot of space between each cookie - they will spread. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight (you can freeze them as well).

4) Preheat oven to 180C / 350F. Bake for 8-10 minutes (10-12 if frozen; do not defrost before baking) or until golden brown. Remove from the oven even if the centers look underbaked. That will give you chewy and fudgy texture. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe adapted from here.

Homemade 3 Musketeers Candy Bars

Homemade 3 Musketeers Candy Bars

Base and Topping:

120g milk chocolate, chopped

28g (2 tbsp) butter

Filling:

120ml (1/2 cup) water

164g (4 fl. oz./1/2 cup) light corn syrup

400g (2 cups) white sugar

1/4 tsp slt

2 egg whites, room temperature

100g (3.5 oz) bittersweet chocolate (I used 50%), grated*

*You can use chopped chocolate, but grated chocolate melts quicker and here you need it to melt quickly. Trust me.

1) First, in a small saucepan, melt together half of the milk chocolate and half of the butter for the base. Simply melt the butter and add chocolate. Cover and let sit for 2 minutes. Once the chocolate melts, stir and pour it in a 20 x 20 cm / 8 x 8 inch dish lined with parchment paper. Place in a refrigerator.

2) In a large pot, combine together water, corn syrup and sugar. Cover the lid and bring to boil. Cook for about 8-9 minutes over medium heat. While it cooks, follow the step number 2.

3) In a clean bowl, add egg whites and salt. Beat on high speed until stiff. Once the whites start holding their shape, stop beating. You don' want to overbeat it. Set aside. 

4) After 8-9 minutes the syrup should be reduced and have a nice golden color. Uncover the lid and attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pot. Once it reaches 260 F / 127 C, turn off the heat and slowly start pouring the syrup into the egg whites, with the mixer running on low speed. Continue beating until all the syrup is incorporated and the mixture has cooled. It will take around 10 minutes. I had a problem here: the sugar syrup became so stiff that I couldn't use it all. It probably cooled too quickly and stuck to the bottom of a pot. If this happens to you - don't worry. Just leave the syrup, you will still get those candies! The problem is that I do not have a kitchen aid and used a hand mixer. Holding a pot in my left hand and trying to pour the syrup gradually, and beating the whites with my right hand was really difficult. So if you have a kitchen aid, you're lucky.

5) Add your chocolate to the mixture and continue beating until incorporated. Pour the mixture onto the chocolate base. Place in the fridge.

6) For the topping, melt the remaining butter and chocolate and pour onto the cooled candy. Refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably overnight. I find it best to keep those in the freezer. It's much easier to cut them into squares when they are frozen because after sitting in the fridge they were still sticky. However, you might get them firmer as it depends on many factors like how slowly you add the syrup to the whites, what is the temperature at the beginning/end of the beating process, etc. 

Recipe adapted from here.