Prep: 20 minutes Cook: 30 minutes + chilling time
Serves: 12
With smoked almonds, pink peppercorns, violets and sea salt, enter stage left the world’s most bougie caramel slice. Obviously with these toppings, this one is for you, not your local fundraising fete.
Gloriously smoky and salty, with a warming heat from pink peppercorns and the floral delight of crystallised violets, this is where it’s at. You can also ditch the extras and make a very excellent slice if adornments and frippery aren’t your thing. Turns out they are mine. (Editor’s note: rapadura sugar is a traditional, unrefined whole cane sugar from Latin America.)
Ingredients
For the shortbread layer:
165g unsalted butter at room temperature, chopped
75g caster sugar
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
½ tsp salt
200g plain flour
For the caramel layer
100g unsalted butter
100g rapadura sugar (or caster/superfine sugar)
395g tin condensed milk
155g smoked almonds, chopped, plus extra for topping
½–1 tsp salt flakes (or to taste)
For the top layer
220g milk chocolate chips, melted
Crystallised violets, sea salt flakes and pink peppercorns
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F). Line a 20 cm (8 in) round or square baking tin with baking paper.
For the shortbread layer, cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and creamy.
Add the vanilla bean paste and salt and mix briefly to incorporate.
Add the flour and beat briefly to combine to a crumbly mixture. Press the mixture down across the base of the tin in an even layer.
Bake in the oven until lightly golden, about 20 minutes.
For the caramel layer, put the butter, sugar and condensed milk in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir vigorously to combine and simmer for up to 5 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened considerably and starts to come away from the sides.
Stir through the chopped almonds and sea salt, then pour the caramel over the shortbread base and pop in the fridge for about 2 hours to set.
Once set, pour the melted milk chocolate over the caramel layer. Allow it to set lightly, about 1 minute, then scatter over the toppings at will. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Bring to room temperature before cutting with a hot, wet knife.
Recipe extracted from Kitchen Keepers (Hardie Grant)
To get more recipes, click here to sign up for our free JC food newsletter.