Billionaire Bites

When I was still a kid (during the 1970s) I remember my Mum making a sweet that had a shortbread base layered with caramel and then topped with melted chocolate.  Which was pretty much heaven to me at the time.

Scroll forward thirty odd years and one day at work someone had a birthday and they brought in cakes for everyone.  To my surprise there in a plastic container was the same type of sweet from Waitrose but the slices were way smaller about three centimeters square.  Waitrose called them Millionaire Bites aka caramel shortbread which according to Wikipedia originated from The Australian Women's Weekly during the 1970s.

Last Halloween I decided to reinvent the sweet to be somewhat more decadent as befitting the festival being celebrated.

I changed the base from shortbread to a chocolate brownie then layered with caramel and topped with milk swiss chocolate.  Sadly I have no picture of it from last year but when I make another one I will update this post.

And yes it did taste very good indeed.

It is curious to note that there are three different methods for making caramel since at the time I had never made caramel before.

1. Boil Sugar and water together til it takes on the brown colour (don't stir) - classic recipe
2. Boil a can of condensed milk - 2-3 hours (seems too much time to invest in)
3. Heat butter and brown sugar until dissolved add condensed milk bring to boil stir until brown

Of course you can cheat and buy pre-made caramel in the shops, I took option three which added perfectly to my vision of the sweet.  I have to admit however I did cheat on the brownie recipe because I bought Betty Crocker's brownie mix which does save time especially when you are trying to make it all in one evening along with a baked cheesecake.

If you want to check out my seriously low number of recipes please go to my wiki site.