Tahini Millionare’s Shortbread
Easy and healthy recipe for vegan millionaire's shortbread. What could be better than dessert consisting of three delicious layers - buttery shortbread, amazing caramel and chocolate? Not much in my opinion.
Find out how to make very easy yet very delicious caramel as well as recipe for perfect vegan shortbread (this shortbread ratio makes tender shortbread which is the best) and chocolate that is easy to cut.
Hi guys! I hope you are having a nice day. We are staying in a cottage in Cotswolds for few days so I am actually great! There are sheep everywhere and the cottage is so pretty. I’m sure my boyfriend will be pleased when I say that I want to move here from London, haha.
But back to the business you’re here for - the best vegan millionaire’s shortbread. I honestly wish that I had some left to eat while I write this.. But we ate it too quickly. It is delicious - shortbread melts in your mouth, caramel is just nicely sweet with a hint of tahini and chocolate is, well, chocolate, therefore amazing. It might look complicated but it is not! You only bake shortbread, blend dates and tahini and melt chocolate. Besides you only need 7 (or 6 ingredients)!
What ingredients to use?
Vegan butter - I like to use vegan butter block (either Naturli or Flora). Margarine has too high water content so I would avoid it when making shortbread but if want to replace the butter with something, then I would go for coconut oil.
Caster sugar - use either white or light brown caster sugar. If the sugar is too dark, your shortbread will come out a bit darker and taste will be different (although not in a bad way).
Dates - if you have medjool dates, you can use those - they are a bit softer, therefore easier to blend. I used regular dates and soaked them for an hour and the outcome is same.
Tahini - use good quality one (I like this one) - otherwise it might be a bit bitter. Tahini I use is quite thin, quite liquid while other brands are a bit thicker - I don’t think that would be a problem, just the caramel might be a bit thicker (which is not a problem at all)
Chocolate - I used 54% dark chocolate. I wouldn’t go for less than that, it would be too sweet in my opinion but you can go darker.
Coconut oil - is added to the chocolate layer so it is easier to cut.
How to make this delicious millionaire’s shortbread?
Start with shortbread - combine sugar, flour and butter in a large bowl.
Rub it together until it resembles wet sand.
Move it into a lined square tin.
Press it into the tin (it is good to do with something with flat bottom, like a glass) and prick with a fork few times.
Bake in preheated oven (180C/160C fan) for 20-25 minutes, until it is golden around the edges.
Add dates and tahini into a food processor and blend until smooth.
Move caramel on cooled shortbread.
Spread caramel evenly, melt chocolate and pour it on top.
Tips & Tricks
How to make the best shortbread layer? Don’t overwork the dough. In this recipe it is very simple, just make that dough look like wet sand, then bring it together into dough and press it into the tin. If you overwork it, gluten will develop too much and shortbread won’t be tender. And use softened butter - I usually leave it out over night (if I am baking it in the morning)
How to cut millionaire’s shortbread? With a hot knife! Immerse a sharp knife in a cup with boiling water, leave it for few seconds, dry the knife and cut shortbread.
How to melt chocolate? Chop chocolate into similar size pieces (so it melts evenly) and add it together with 2 tea spoons of coconut oil into a heatproof bowl (either glass or stainless steel). Pour some water (not that much, because when you put the heatproof bowl over the saucepan, it shouldn’t touch water) into a small saucepan, place the heatproof bowl on top of it and slowly let the chocolate melt.
For more delicious vegan recipes be sure to check out:
Vegan Shortbread Dipped in Chocolate
If you make this millionaire’s shortbread and take photos of it, be sure to tag me on instagram - @bigbakesmanifesto and use hashtag #bigbakesmanifesto too. I’d love to see you making my recipe!
Ingredients
Shortbread
200 g all purpose flour
120 g vegan butter - room temperature
60 g white caster sugar (or light brown)
Tahini Caramel
250 g dates (pitted)
100 g tahini
Chocolate
200g dark chocolate (I used 55 %)
2 tsp coconut oil
optional - 2 tsp tahini (for feathering)
Method
If your blender is not powerful enough, soak dates in hot water for about an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C (fan). Grease and then line square tin (it should be around 20x20cm, up to 25x25 - depends what you have).
Sift flour into a large bowl, add sugar and mix together. Rub in vegan butter until it resembles wet sand - it is easy to do with a fork, or use just fingers. Knead it for few seconds and then move to the tin and press it into it. Prick it lightly with a fork and bake for 20-25 mins (until very lightly browned). Leave it to cool down completely.
Prepare caramel - place soaked dates (without the water) and tahini into a blender and blend until it is all smooth. You can make it in two batches if you are worried that your blender won’t be okay.
Spread tahini caramel evenly over cooled shortbread.
Melt chocolate and coconut oil in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan with hot water (the bowl shouldn’t touch water). Pour over caramel, spread around and leave to set. Optionally put some tahini into an icing bag and pipe it in lines down the cake, about 1 cm apart. Drag through the tahini stripes a toothpick (or a cocktail stick) in opposite directions across the cake to give it that feathered effect.
Store in an airtight box in the fridge and eat within a week.