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For more helpful tips, see Cooking Tips.

Ingredients

Shortbread

3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

Caramel

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Chocolate

3 cups milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped milk chocolate or dark chocolate

1 tablespoon butter

Directions

Shortbread

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter or spray an 8x8 or 9x9-inch baking dish. Set aside.

Place butter, sugar and vanilla extract into an electric mixer bowl and beat on medium until light and fluffy. Add flour and salt and beat on low speed until flour has somewhat mixed into butter mixture, then increase speed to medium and beat until mixture comes together (scrape sides and bottom of bowl to make sure you include all dough parts.) Gently squeeze dough with hands a few times, manipulating to make a smooth ball. Place into greased baking dish and press down, spreading to evenly fill entire bottom of dish (smooth out any cracks).

Bake for 20 minutes or until top of shortbread turns pale golden in color. Remove from oven and cool. While shortbread is cooling, prepare caramel.

Caramel

In a medium saucepan, add all caramel ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Once mixture is creamy and has turned amber in color, remove from heat and pour over shortbread. Use the back of a spoon to evenly smooth over entire top of shortbread. Refrigerate for about 1/2 an hour to set caramel. After caramel has set, begin preparing chocolate topping.  

Chocolate

If using chocolate bars, break into pieces (to help in melting process). To melt chocolate, use microwave or double-boiler method:

Microwave: Place chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat on high for 30 second intervals, stirring after each 30 seconds of heating until chocolate is smooth enough to stir (but not fully melted). Note: Be careful not to overheat - chocolate can melt in less than 1 minute. Overheating can cause chocolate to become hard.

Double Boiler: Place about 1-2 inches of water in a saucepan, and place chocolate and butter in top section of double boiler on top of saucepan (if you don't have a double boiler, you can use a bowl that is slightly larger than the saucepan instead). Heat water over low-medium heat, and frequently check to see if the chocolate can be stirred. (Note: The trick to successfully heating chocolate is to heat it slowly, and to not overheat. Keep the water level low enough that it does not touch the upper pan or bowl, because that will cause too much heat. As long as you heat the chocolate slowly over moderate heat, you will be fine.)

As soon as the chocolate is able to be stirred into a creamy consistency, pour it over the caramel layer and evenly spread over entire top. Allow chocolate to cool and harden partially, then score lines through the chocolate only where you will cut bars into pieces after fully hardened. (This makes it much easier to cut into pieces once the chocolate has set.) Chill in refrigerator until chocolate is set, then cut into bars using your score lines. Tip: Using a Scraper/Chopper or a large pizza cutter wheel works very well for cutting squares. If using a knife, wiping the knife clean with a damp paper towel will make your cuts more exact.