A little plea + caramel shortcake recipe

Hey peeps!

First up I was very excited because over the weekend I got an email to say my entry to the Whittard Afternoon Tea Blogger Carnival had been selected as one of the final ten! I would love it if you would vote for me (mine was number 10- the info is all here)- all voters get entered into a competition to win a year’s supply of tea! And if you don’t want to vote, have a look as there are some very pretty and tasty entries.

On Sunday I did some baking- it is Andy’s brothers birthday next week, and his favourite is caramel shortcake, so that is what I made for Sunday tea.

The base for this is super easy- combine 100g margarine (I use Pure spread) with 4 tbs brown sugar, and cream together. Stir in 125g plain flour and 45g rolled oats, press into a pan (I use a brownie pan lined with baking paper) and then bake for 20-25 mins at 180C.

The caramel is pretty easy too- in a pan have 25g butter, 25g brown sugar and a tin of light condensed milk, and gently heat. Keep stirring. Once the butter has melted, let the mixture bubble away; keep stirring- it will eventually thicken a little and darken.

The base needs to cool for a bit before you pour the caramel over it (only for 5 or 10 minutes).

Yum look at the swirly caramel.

Then melt some chocolate for the topping. I like to add a little coconut oil as then the chocolate won’t reset completely solid and be much easier to slice. I probably used 100g plain chocolate, then 50g white chocolate over the top (but this ended up being too much white chocolate).

Leave to cool, and then slice.

It is not actually shortcake/ shortbread, but I prefer this base as it is more crumbly, and the oats add interest to the base. Plus the caramel is much softer than some recipes (some of them it goes more like toffee and is hard to slice/ chew)- this is a gooey oozing caramel, seriously it is gorgeous.

I left some slices large to take around for tea, and then cut the rest into smaller squares and took them into work today- they were all gone by lunchtime!

In running news, I was feeling fine today, but I went out on a 4 mile run and kept having to stop and walk as my legs were so stiff. So I promise I am going to get the foam roller out this evening, and perhaps have a walk tomorrow to help loosen them, if I have time.

Night! And thanks in advance for anyone that votes for me 🙂 (Andy would call you all enablers as you are supporting my tea addiction, but hey, he has that addiction too!!)

Anything you are slightly addicted to??