Now, I should probably tell you abit more about these sweet sweet tahini flavoured babies. Last week Lindt sent me over some of their dark chocolate bars. In it was their new flavour dark chocolate with roasted sesame which was so good. It got me thinking and I thought why not mix tahini in with caramel? Why not make the best flavour millionaire shortbread ever?

So I did.

I knew very little about tahini before seeing Molly Yeh use it in so many brilliant recipes. I only knew it was used for hummus. I was completely converted after making My Darling Lemon Thyme’s raw vegan fudge (which is BTW so awfully addictive you will keep eating it until you feel sick and then you will feel sad that you ate it all). I can’t describe how good it is in sweet things, the first bite is always the strangest but all of a sudden everything just melds together and works, especially in this case with the melt in your mouth shortbread and the dark chocolate. If I ever get to own a café this will be in regular rotation on the counter for sure.

Tahini Caramel Millionaire Shortbread // The Cake Hunter
NOTES//

I used a 9×5 inch square pan and I like quite a thick shortbread base, if you want less shortbread I would suggest halving the shortbread recipe for the same size pan.

Alternatively, double the caramel and chocolate recipe if using a longer baking tray (12inches).

I used Lindt’s 85% dark chocolate for the topping and it works wonderfully so I recommend using a good quality dark chocolate that’s at least 80% cocoa.

Tahini Caramel Millionaire Shortbread

(caramel adapted from Felicity Cloake’s recipe in the Guardian)

shortbread:
250g (2 sticks + 1 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
120g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
pinch of salt
260g (2 cups) plain flour
90g (3/4 cup) cornflour (cornstarch)

caramel:
200g (1 cup) caster sugar
125ml (1/2 cup) water
130g (1 stick + 1 tbsp) butter, cubed
100ml (1/3 cup + 1 tbsp) double cream
1/2 teaspoon flaked sea salt
100g (1/2 cup) whole tahini

200g 80-85% dark chocolate, chopped

sesame seeds

flaked sea salt

1. Grease and line your tin and preheat the oven to 150 C/300 F/gas mark 2.
2. To make the shortbread, beat the butter and sugar until pale. Sift in the flour, cornflour and salt and then beat until the dough comes together.
3. Press the shortbread dough into the tin until flat. Chill for 15 minutes.
4. Bake in the oven for 1 hour, remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
5. For the caramel make sure all your ingredients are ready at the side. Cover the bottom of a wide pan with the sugar and pour the water over so all of the sugar is covered. Using a medium heat, heat the sugar water gradually (about 7 minutes) until it turns to a dark amber colour.
6. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until melted. Add the cream and whisk in and then stir in the salt and tahini. Transfer to a bowl and let cool adn thicken in the fridge.
7. To assemble, spread the cooled caramel over the shortbread.
8. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water or carefully in the microwave and pour over the top of the caramel. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and a little flaked sea salt and leave to set.