Millionaire Shortbread Cookies

Millionaire Shortbread Cookies

Total Time: 3 hr 25 min
Prep: 15 min
Inactive: 2 hr 30 min
Cook: 40 min

Yield: 36 bars

Ingredients

Shortbread Layer:

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus extra melted for coating the pan

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for coating the pan

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

Cookie Butter Layer:

1 1/2 cups sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup light brown sugar (not packed)

3 tablespoons cookie butter, such as Biscoff or Speculoos

1 teaspoon fine salt

Chocolate Layer:

4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Flaky salt, such as fleur de sel

Directions

For the shortbread layer: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using a pastry brush, butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and coat with flour, tapping off excess.

Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse. Add the butter and pulse until the dough just comes together. Press the shortbread mixture into the prepared pan and bake until golden brown around the edges, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

For the cookie butter layer: In a 5-quart saucepan over moderately-low heat, combine the sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, cookie butter and salt. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil, stirring continuously. Continue stirring over the heat until the mixture becomes thick and amber in color, about 15 minutes. Pour the mixture over the cooked shortbread and spread evenly using an offset spatula. Cool to room temperature.

For the chocolate topping: In a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate with the oil. Once the chocolate has melted, pour it over the cooled caramel layer. Cool at room temperature for about 10 minutes, and then put in the refrigerator to cool completely, allowing the chocolate to slightly harden but not too hard. Cut into 2-inch pieces. Garnish with flaky salt before serving.

Recipe courtesy of Chef Marc Murphy

Thank you, Skeen! xoxo

IOTD

Calendar day; December 19, 2014

Friday, the 19th of December, 2014 is the 353th day in 2014 and in the 51st calendar week.

General Events:

Look for an Evergreen Day
December 19, 2014 in the World

Look for an Evergreen Day is observed on December 19, 2014. If you’re still looking for this year’s Christmas conifer, Look for an Evergreen Day is a good chance to do this. An evergreen is a plant that has leaves in all four seasons, always green. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.

A Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen conifer such as spruce, pine or fir, traditionally associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tree was traditionally decorated with edibles such as apples, nuts or other foods. In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by candles, which with electrification could also be replaced by Christmas lights. Today, there are a wide variety of traditional ornaments, such as garland, tinsel, and candy canes.

Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until Christmas Eve. In many areas, it has become customary to set up one’s Christmas tree at the beginning of the Advent season. Some families in the U.S. and Canada will put up a Christmas tree soon after American Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday of November), and Christmas decorations can show up even earlier in retail stores, often the day after Halloween.

Where is Look for an Evergreen Day?
Worldwide

National Oatmeal Muffin Day
December 19, 2014 in the USA

Oatmeal Muffin Day is celebrated on December 19, 2014. Packed with soluble fiber and healthy carbohydrates, oatmeal has a number of key health benefits. From curbing appetite to reducing cholesterol, eating more oatmeal is a simple way to boost health. Oatmeal can carry a label claiming it may reduce the risk of heart disease when combined with a low-fat diet. This is because of the beta-glucan in the oats. Oatmeal Muffin Day gives you therefore a chance to celebrate it by baking some of these healthy Muffins.

A muffin is a type of quick bread of American origin that is baked in portions appropriate for one person. They are similar to cupcakes in size and cooking methods. The can come in both savory varieties, such as corn or cheese muffins, or sweet varieties such as blueberry or banana.

Where is Oatmeal Muffin Day?
Nationwide USA

Historical Events on 19th December:

1055 – Seldjuken under Toghril Beg occupy Baghdad

1686 – Robinson Crusoe leaves his island after 28 years (as per Daniel Defoe)

1732 – Benjamin Franklin under the name Richard Saunders begins publication of “Poor Richard’s Almanack”

1788 – Chinese troops occupy capital Thang Long Vietnam

1842 – US recognizes independence of Hawaii

1843 – “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens is published, 6,000 copies sold

1884 – Italy recognizes King Leopold II’s Congo Free State

1900 – Kitchener offers protections to all Boers who will surrender and asks the Dutch community of Pretoria to convey this offer, but leaders in the field refuse to surrender; although organised military operations are largely over, the guerrilla war continues

1904 – Dawson City hockey team begins 9 day walk to get a boat to Seattle to catch a train to Ottawa to play in Stanley Cup on Jan 13 1905

1910 – 1st US city ordinance requiring white & black residential areas (Balt)

1918 – Robert Ripley began his “Believe It or Not” column (NY Globe)

1922 – Theresa Vaughn, 24, confessed in court in Sheffield, England, to being married 61 times over 5 years in 50 cities in three countris

1924 – The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England.

1945 – Austrian Republic re-establishes

1946 – War breaks out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi

1950 – Tibet’s Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion

1958 – 1st radio broadcast from space (Pres Eisenhower voice “To all mankind, America’s wish for Peace on Earth & Good Will to Men Everywhere”)

1971 – Stanley Kubrick’s X-rated “A Clockwork Orange” premieres

1973 – Grenada adopts constitution

1984 – China PR Premier Zhao Ziyang & British PM Margaret Thatcher sign Hong Kong Treaty
1984 – UK signs agreement with China to return Hong Kong to China in 1997

1991 – Boris Yeltsin takes control of Kremlin

2001 – A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl Province, Mongolia.