Publised on 21/02/2024. Last Updated on 18/09/2024 by Richard
Vegan millionaire shortbread like no other! Crumbly shortbread biscuit topped with smooth, stretchy caramel covered in dark chocolate.
Every day I've spent not eating vegan millionaire shortbread has been a day wasted! It's such a nostalgic treat for me and yet, now that I'm eating it, it's also a pretty grown-up dessert!
When I was growing up, my brother would ALWAYS ask for millionaire shortbread at the bakery. He doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, and I honestly don’t think he even liked millionaire shortbread very much - he just liked the notion that eating like a millionaire might make him into a millionaire.
I, on the other hand, LOVE vegan millionaire shortbread and couldn’t care less about being a millionaire (give me an oven and a well stocked pantry and I’m happy!). So let's get on with it!
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🍫 Vegan Millionaire Shortbread Ingredients
Three layers, a handful of ingredients, the most delicious vegan millionaire shortbread you've ever tasted! Every one I've ever tried in the past has that weird gritty caramel that doesn't stretch, so I've tweaked this recipe to give it the PERFECT vegan caramel! Smooth and silky, like the caramel in Rolos (if you remember those?).
Vegan Millionaire Shortbread Ingredients
- Plain white flour (aka all-purpose flour)
- Icing sugar (aka confectioners sugar)
- Pinch fine sea salt
- Vegan butter
Caramel Ingredients
- Vegan butter
- Golden syrup (or light corn syrup)
- Light brown sugar
- Caster sugar (aka superfine sugar)
- Soy milk
- Vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste)
- Pinch flaky sea salt
Chocolate Layer Ingredients
- Vegan dark chocolate (or roughly chopped chunks, use a vegan variety, minimum 54% cacao)
- Coconut oil (deodorized works best)
🥣 How to Make Vegan Millionaire Shortbread
As you can probably guess, vegan millionaire shortbread is a simple case of layering, kind a like my passion fruit bars and my vegan tiramisu! Shortbread, then caramel, then chocolate! But HOW do we make those layers?? Well, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page, but here's an extra little visual walk-through!
1. First, for your vegan millionaire shortbread, bake your shortbread! This is a super simple recipe that comes together in the food processor. Just whizz together until a dough forms then push into the tin and prick with a fork. Bake for 20 mins and you're done!
2. Now make the caramel! This is a little trickier but with the help of a candy thermometer you'll do just fine! You'll need to bring the ingredients to a boil and let them heat to 117c or 242f. Any lower and the caramel won't set properly.
3. Once your caramel has been made and poured over the shortbread, allow it to chill for a while. Then we can add out dark chocolate topping, which has been mixed with a little coconut oil to keep it nice and glossy!
4. And that's it! In my opinion, these vegan millionaire shortbreads are best served from the fridge. At fridge temp, the caramel should be gooey and stretchy, like the caramel in a candy bar!
🔀 Substitutions and Swaps!
- Turn these vegan millionaire shortbread bars into vegan snickers bars! Stir some roasted unsalted peanuts into the caramel right before pouring over the shortbread for a delicious nutty twist!
- Step away from the dark side and use vegan white chocolate for the topping instead. It's great for anyone with a super sweet tooth!
- Double the chocolate fun by replacing 2 tablespoon of the flour in the shortbread for 4 tablespoon dark cocoa powder!
🤷♀️ Vegan Millionaire Shortbread FAQs
A: While my vegan millionaire shortbread recipe calls for plain white flour (all-purpose flour), you can experiment with alternative flours like almond flour or a gluten-free flour blend for a unique twist. Keep in mind that different flours may affect the texture, so adjustments might be needed.
A: Yes, you can try using coconut oil or a plant-based margarine as a substitute for vegan butter in the caramel layer. Each option is likely to affect the intended texture and flavour of the caramel, so do try to use a firm block-style vegan butter if you can find one.
A: Yes, absolutely! If you can find your favourite vegan milk chocolate, this makes a great, sweeter option.
And that's it! My vegan millionaire shortbread recipe is now yours for keepsies! If you love this recipe, I think you'll also love my vegan caramel recipe, my vegan molten lava cakes, and my vegan butterscotch blondies!
Vegan Millionaire Shortbread
Equipment
- heat proof measuring jug
- 23x23cm (9x9 inch) square cake tin
- Food Processor
- candy thermometer
Ingredients
For the Shortbread
- 250 g plain white flour aka all purpose flour
- 75 g icing sugar aka confectioners sugar
- pinch fine sea salt
- 175 g vegan butter
For the Caramel
- 170 g vegan butter
- 200 g golden syrup or light corn syrup
- 170 g light brown sugar
- 100 g caster sugar aka superfine sugar
- 150 ml soy milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- pinch flaky sea salt
For the Chocolate
- 200 g vegan dark chocolate or roughly chopped chunks, use a vegan variety, minimum 54% cacao
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil deodorised works best
Instructions
To Make the Shortbread
- Preheat the oven to 160 °C.
- In a food processor, combine the shortbread ingredients. Pulse until the mixture just starts to hold together as a dough then stop.250 g plain white flour, 75 g icing sugar, pinch fine sea salt, 175 g vegan butter
- Line a 23x23cm (9x9 inch) square cake tin with a sheet of baking parchment. Press the dough into the bottom of the tin, forming a smooth, even layer of dough.
- Prick the dough lightly with a fork all over and place in the preheated oven to bake for 20 minutes or until very lightly golden on top.
- Remove from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack. Allow to cool fully in the tin before transferring to the fridge.
To Make The Caramel
- In a large saucepan (larger than you think you need) add all the caramel ingredients except for the vanilla and the salt.170 g vegan butter, 200 g golden syrup, 170 g light brown sugar, 100 g caster sugar, 150 ml soy milk
- Place over a medium heat and stir with a heat-proof spatula until all the butter is melted and the sugars dissolved completely. Using a probe thermometer, bring the caramel to 117c (you may have to increase the heat to get it there, but trust me, it will get there!). At no point should you touch the caramel with your fingers - it's incredibly hot!
- Remove from the heat, add the vanilla and salt and stir to combine.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, pinch flaky sea salt
- Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously, then pour over the shortbread in the tin. Smooth out the surface and then return to the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
For the Chocolate
- Place the chocolate chips in a heat-proof measuring jug and add the coconut oil. Melt in the microwave in short bursts, stirring between each go, until melted.200 g vegan dark chocolate, 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- Pour the chocolate over the chilled caramel layer and then set aside on the counter to set fully. Once set, slice into squares or bars and serve!
Sarah
OMGEEEEE. This is quite possibly the best thing I've ever put in my mouth. That caramel is like golden heavenly nectar and exactly the flavour I've been missing since embracing the plant love. Totally winged it without a thermometer and used the soft ball test instead (love a little science experiment and a bit of mess) and after about 20-25 mins of patient bubbling it turned out perfect! Slight but attractive ooze when stored at warm, summer room temp or more solid and chewy straight from the fridge. The carnation vegan condensed milk recipe isn't a PATCH on this one. Will be happily risking diabetes and adding these delights to my regular baking list. Even got a massive thumbs up from dedicated non-vegans. Thankingyou!
Tina
These are great, super tasty, but unfortunately the caramel doesn't set properly, ends up running out of the cake once cut into squares and no longer held in place by the baking tin. A bit sad about that because I want those perfect squares without the caramel glooping out around the edges. I've followed the recipe to a T. I have a thermometer and make sure it gets to 115C, and I also make sure to let it cool properly and set in the fridge. But once cut into squares the caramel will seep out even if stored in the fridge. The only way to prevent it is to freeze the squares but then you have to take them out and serve them frozen instead, and wait a while for them to defrost enough to be soft enough to bite through.
Tina
These are great, super tasty, but unfortunately the caramel doesn't set properly, ends up running out of the cake once cut into squares and no longer held in place by the baking tin. A bit sad about that because I want those perfect squares without the caramel glooping out around the edges. I've followed the recipe to a T. I have a thermometer and make sure it gets to 115C, and I also make sure to let it cool properly and set in the fridge. But once cut into squares the caramel will seep out even if stored in the fridge. The only way to prevent it is to freeze the squares but then you have to take them out and serve them frozen instead, and wait a while for them to defrost enough to be soft enough to bite through.
Mythili
Ages later I am replying to say I got around to making these and it turned out great. I wish I’d halved the recipe though, it’s very rich and I’m the only one who’ll be eating it!
As I’m US based I used normal sugar in lieu of caster sugar (which we don’t get), a 9x13in pan in lieu of 22x33cm, and the very dark light brown vegan sugar I had on hand. Used Earth Balance sticks (68% fat) for the butter and some new product called “Not Milk” (the whole fat version) in lieu of oat milk, which I also don’t have.
So! Sounds like a bunch of substitutions but honestly they mostly indicate that the recipe is quite excellent! Indeed it took forEVER for the caramel to reach 115C but I kept at it, and the shortbread needed a bit more time in the oven (I think my oven was struggling to maintain the lower temperature, had to adjust it a bit higher midway when I noticed it dropping). I was exceedingly lazy with kneading the shortbread because I didn’t want to get flour everywhere, and it came out fine. Since the caramel came out so beautifully I tried to also temper chocolate for on top. That also took forever and did not work so I’m one for two.
Lastly I cut these into ~2-3 bite size cookies instead of the larger squares because they are very rich. Also makes it easier to Tetris into various containers for storage!
Christina
Wow! So, I had loads of crushed digestives mixed with baking block left over from a cheese cake I had made, so I decided I would make millionaires shortbread using that as the base. Came across this recipe, didn't have enough soft dark brown sugar so I added a mix of coconut sugar, extra caster sugar and some molasses to make up the difference. I used Stork backing block for the vegan butter and I don't own a food thermometer so I just used the soft ball test that you use when making fudge. Was fully expecting it to be a complete flop considering I didn't follow the recipe to the T and thought the caramel would seep all over the place due to not having a thermometer but the soft ball test worked a charm and I would recommend it to anyone who can't afford a food thermometer or doesn't have one to hand! The end result was awesome! I was in shock at how well the caramel stayed put! Thanks for the awesome recipe! 🙂
Christina
Wow! So, I had loads of crushed digestives mixed with baking block left over from a cheese cake I had made, so I decided I would make millionaires shortbread using that as the base. Came across this recipe, didn't have enough soft dark brown sugar so I added a mix of coconut sugar, extra caster sugar and some molasses to make up the difference. I used Stork backing block for the vegan butter and I don't own a food thermometer so I just used the soft ball test that you use when making fudge. Was fully expecting it to be a complete flop considering I didn't follow the recipe to the T and thought the caramel would seep all over the place due to not having a thermometer but the soft ball test worked a charm and I would recommend it to anyone who can't afford a food thermometer or doesn't have one to hand! The end result was awesome! I was in shock at how well the caramel stayed put! Thanks for the awesome recipe! 🙂
Mythili
What exactly is "baking block" when you refer to vegan butter? I have sticks (earth balance) and spread (again, earth balance) and then something that comes in a block (miyoko's). Tend to use the sticks for things vegan baking-y...but googling isn't being helpful re baking block as a term.
Anneliese
vegan block is just vegan butter by the brand naturli. i'd guess using whatever you usually do for baking would be fine in this recipe.
Mythili
Ages later I am replying to say I got around to making these and it turned out great. I wish I’d halved the recipe though, it’s very rich and I’m the only one who’ll be eating it!
As I’m US based I used normal sugar in lieu of caster sugar (which we don’t get), a 9x13in pan in lieu of 22x33cm, and the very dark light brown vegan sugar I had on hand. Used Earth Balance sticks (68% fat) for the butter and some new product called “Not Milk” (the whole fat version) in lieu of oat milk, which I also don’t have.
So! Sounds like a bunch of substitutions but honestly they mostly indicate that the recipe is quite excellent! Indeed it took forEVER for the caramel to reach 115C but I kept at it, and the shortbread needed a bit more time in the oven (I think my oven was struggling to maintain the lower temperature, had to adjust it a bit higher midway when I noticed it dropping). I was exceedingly lazy with kneading the shortbread because I didn’t want to get flour everywhere, and it came out fine. Since the caramel came out so beautifully I tried to also temper chocolate for on top. That also took forever and did not work so I’m one for two.
Lastly I cut these into ~2-3 bite size cookies instead of the larger squares because they are very rich. Also makes it easier to Tetris into various containers for storage!
Gemma
Thank you so much for this recipe- milluonaire's has been the one sweet treat that I've not been able to successfully veganise.
I followed your recipe (almost) exactly (used soya instead of oat milk) and they turned out amazingly. Lovely crumbly shortbread and thick, perfectly set caramel. Yum!!
My only challenge now will be to not make a batch every day!!
Excellent recipe- super simple and super delicious 🙂
kelly
My shortbread took longer to bake and my caramel came out a lighter color but still great! I dont have a candy thermometer so I just eyeballed it, maybe thats why it came out lighter in color but it still set up!
kelly
My shortbread took longer to bake and my caramel came out a lighter color but still great! I dont have a candy thermometer so I just eyeballed it, maybe thats why it came out lighter in color but it still set up!