Caramel Apple Shortbread Recipe
A delicious thick and buttery shortbread topped with sweet caramel apples and a pastry lattice top
This brown sugar shortbread combines a buttery biscuit base with a sweet caramel apple layer and crisp pastry topping to create the most mouth watering flavour combination. It's really easy to make, just requiring a mixing bowl and a baking tin, and you can easily swap up the fruity flavours to create different shortbread tastes.
Just crumble your easy dough together and part bake your shortbread base. Layer up your easy homemade caramel sauce and freshly chopped apples, before adding your pastry lattice and popping it back in the oven to finish.
It's crisp, gooey, sweet and delicious and perfect for this autumn-y time of year!
This shortbread is best eaten within four days while it is freshest. Because of the fresh fruit, it needs to be stored in an airtight container in a cool and dry place, or you can freeze it for longer. It's quicker to defrost if you pre-slice your shortbread pieces and get them out of the freezer one at a time as and when you need them.
This recipe fills a 7" x 11" cake tin which slices into 12 generous servings.
It's dairy free, egg free, nut free, easily gluten free and of course, completely vegan!
Makes 12 small slices
Shortbread ingredients;
450g plain flour
140g soft brown sugar
300g vegan butter
Caramel ingredients;
45g vegan butter
150g soft brown sugar
90g vegan cream
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
You will also need;
2 large cooking or Bramley apples
1 tbs cornflour
1/2 sheet vegan ready made puff pastry
1 tbs melted butter
You will also need; a mixing bowl, 7" x 11" baking tin, baking paper, spoon, knife, microwavable bowl, pastry brush
How to make your shortbread;
Preheat the oven to 180°c and line your baking tin with baking paper. This will make it much easier to remove your shortbread from the tin
In a mixing bowl add all the shortbread ingredients, flour, sugar and butter, and use your finger tips to crumble together until it forms a breadcrumb texture (it was incredibly hot when I made mine, so the butter was very melty and my dough was super sticky. Yours should look drier than mine!)
Add all the shortbread mixture to the lined baking tin and press it down firmly to create a smooth, flat base
Bake for 20-30 minutes until the shortbread is turning golden brown
While the shortbread is baking, make your caramel sauce
Add all the caramel ingredients to a small microwavable bowl and heat for 2 minutes until everything has melted
Stir the mixture and heat again for another 2 minutes
The mixture should now be beginning to bubble. Carefully stir and then heat again for another 2 minutes
The mixture should feel thicker and it will continue to thicken as it cools down. Be careful as the sugar will be boiling hot. Set the caramel aside
Peel and dice the apples into small cubes, around 1cm, then add to a bowl with the cornflour. Roughly stir to coat each apple piece in cornflour
Once the shortbread base has baked and while it is still hot, pour over half the caramel sauce, then add the apples in an even layer and pour over the remaining caramel sauce
Carefully set the tin to one side, as it will be very hot, and prepare the pastry lattice
Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, slice the pastry into strips around 1cm wide. You should end up with nine long strips of pastry
Lay five long pastry strips spread out along the length of the tin
Cut the remaining four strips in half, then one by one thread them over and under the long strips to make a lattice pattern
This bit is a little fiddly! You need to carefully lift up each long strip to thread the shorter pieces underneath as needed
Add as many of the shorter strips as needed to make an evenly spaced lattice pattern
Gently brush the pastry with the melted butter
Bake for another 20-25 minutes until the apples and soft and the pastry is golden brown
Leave in the tin until completely cooled before removing from the tin, as it will be very soft while hot
Once cooled, slice and it is ready to eat!
Tips & Tricks!
If creating the pastry lattice seems like a faff, just lay pastry strips over the top to make a criss-cross pattern or cut out pastry shapes, like stars, and dot them over the top!
This is my cake tin - my tin is 7" x 11" x 2" - https://amzn.to/45YU9Do
These are my mixing bowls - https://amzn.to/489iB6s
I used Flora butter to make my shortbread
You could swap out the apples in this recipe for a different chopped fruit to make different flavours
If you don't have any cornflour, the recipe should still work without it. However, the shortbread may have a wetter texture as more juice from the fruit will have run into the mixture
Most ready made puff pastry is accidently vegan, but do check the ingredients
Comments