Spiderweb Millionaires Shortbread

Individual Millionaires Shortbread with a hint of Halloween – Yes please!

Ingredients:

Shortbread

80g butter

40g caster sugar

140g plain flour

Caramel

90g light muscovado sugar

90g butter

315g condensed milk – use a squeezy bottle for no waste, if you use a tin and have some left over try it drizzled over icecream, add it to tea/coffee/hot choc for a creamy sweetener or indeed eat it with a spoon 😉 – Thank you Hevz Tasty Treats for the top tips Xx

Topping

200g milk chocolate

50g white chocolate

Makes: 12.

To make them individually I’m using silicone cupcake cases in a metal tin. Paper cases will work too but they need to be in a proper cupcake tin that the cases fit into completely. Making them directly in silicone muffin trays will work too.

Preheat the oven to 160c (fan)/180c/Gas Mark 4.

Shortbread layer first. Cream together the butter and sugar until nice and light and fluffy.

Add the plain flour and work together to a moist crumbly dough.

Add a spoonful to the base of each case (20g in each if you’re being precise) and flatten down with the back of teaspoon. .

If you find the mixture sticks to the spoon as you flatten it, dipping the spoon in a little flour will stop it.

Bake the shortbread bases in the oven for 12 minutes and then set them aside to cool.

Time for the caramel layer – in a non-stick pan gently melt together the condensed milk, butter and light muscovado sugar stirring frequently.

Once the butter and sugar have melted turn the heat up a little and bring the mixture to a low boil.

Now stir continuously (to stop the bottom from catching and burning) on the heat for a full five minutes.

Caramel ready to go – divide it between the cases adding it to the top of the shortbread layer with a spoon. Take care because it’s super hot. It should level out by itself in the case but if it starts to thicken and set too soon for you, heat it up a little in the pan again or if it’s already in the cases pop the tray back in the oven for a couple of minutes at a time until it softens and levels out again.

Now you need to cool them completely and let the caramel layer set.

Once set it’s time for the spiderwebs. Melt the milk chocolate in a small bowl. Melt the white chocolate and add it to a small piping bag.

A good spoonful of milk chocolate to the top of the caramel. A couple of taps on the worksurface and the chocolate will level out and pop any air bubbles. Just work with a few at a time, not the whole lot. You need the milk chocolate to still be liquid for the feathering to work.

Snip a small amount from the end of the piping bag of white chocolate and pipe 3 rough circles onto the milk chocolate.

Using the tip of a cocktail stick draw it from the middle of the chocolate out towards the edge and repeat around the top to form the spiderweb.

Try to keep the tip of the cocktail stick fairly clean, wiping it off onto a sheet of kitchen paper if necessary.

Now all that’s left to do is leave them be whilst the chocolate sets!

Simply turn them out of the silicone liners and serve them up. If I could have found any, then jelly spiders would be just right for sitting on the tops of these – hope you have some more luck than me in finding them!