I notice that we are on page 4 and apart from a totally unjustified, and in fact plan wrong, attack on cooking chocolate, I notice that there has been no discussion of the type of chocolate required.
It should of course be plain chocolate with a reasonably high cocoa content, to balance out the sweetness of the caramel. Ideally Callebaut or Valrhona, but at a pinch supermarket dark cooking chocolate can be used, or Menier as long as you aren't boycotting Nestlé. Cooking chocolate like this is preferred because it is easier to work with and less likely to develop a bloom.
Bought some millionaire shortbread* today looking forward to scoffing some only to find (to my disappointment) it was flapjack. Still nice but not shortbread. The end.
*failure to read past first word on label and xray vision packed up, sigh.
@onewheelgood I think you are misunderstanding what is meant by “cooking chocolate”?
There’s a specific low quality product that’s designed to be a cooking ingredient and never to be just used as chocolate, and it is awful.
a totally unjustified, and in fact plan wrong, attack on cooking chocolate
Cooking chocolate is absolutely grim. An attack on it is wholly justified and I am surprised it wasn't banned for domestic use along with creosote, a similar product with about the same culinary utility.
Cooking chocolate is absolutely grim. An attack on it is wholly justified and I am surprised it wasn’t banned for domestic use along with creosote, a similar product with about the same culinary utility.
The thing is though, what makes an authentic Millionaire shortbread. It's a Scottish recipe dating from the 1950s that you'd make with ingredients from the village corner shop. Proper millionaire shortbread should be made with Scotbloc - forget percentages of coco solids - 'chocolate flavoured with a chocolate appearance' is what it should say on the packet. We used to refer to its as 'Chiglet' something so divorced from real chocolate you couldn't even use the same letters to spell it.
Making Miilionaire Shortbread with proper chocolate is like making haggis with saltmarsh fed lamb fillet. 🙂
I mean check out the small print on the Morrisons label 'no artificial flavours' - rejected!
@maccruiskeen and that’s exactly why there are so many people on this thread who’ve obviously only experienced shite millionaire’s shortbread and so find it mediocre. It’s all about the details.
Also your comparison with haggis is void. Haggis is actually improved by the fact that it’s minced heart and lungs, whereas millionaire’s shortbread is not improved by using cheap ingredients.
Wise words Kramer. We are amongst heathens.
If this thread was sponsored by the millionaire shortbread marketing board then it was successful...but now I am looking back at the selection and wishing I'd chosen the flapjack or the peanut butter brownie.
whereas millionaire’s shortbread is not improved by using cheap ingredients.
Quality ingredients aren't improved by making Millionaires Shortbread with them. I know we live in a 'gourmet burger' era of throwing expensive ingredients in a bun and thinking thats 'cooking' and all that. But if you're paying for something made with good chocolate why not expect people to make an effort and do something good with it, more than the sum of the parts and all that. Not just the parts piled on top of each other..
Good millionaire's shortbread takes a lot of effort. It's all in the details, the correct recipe and method of making the shortbread, and the correct ratio of shortbread to caramel to chocolate. You can tell when someone's made the effort to get it right.
Cooking chocolate is absolutely grim. An attack on it is wholly justified and I am surprised it wasn’t banned for domestic use along with creosote, a similar product with about the same culinary utility.
and even that Morrisons bar that you showed has 50% more cocoa in it than Cadbury's Dairy Milk (30% vs 20%). The general standard of chocolate in this country is appalling, although still rather better than that found in the US. But just like everything else, in a capitalist society you can buy shit cooking chocolate, or good cooking chocolate - it's up to you, or your budget.
