Millionaire Shortbread Bar

Welcome to day number 64 of quarantine! Every day is pretty much the same and I've never gone on more walks in my entire life, including walking all over campus in college. Yesterday was payday for me and to celebrate such a momentous occasion I ransacked my pantry shelves to make these millionaire shortbread bars. They're salty, slightly sweet, and rich - everything I'm trying to be in life. It takes a little while to put these together but it'd definitely worth it. I prefer mine with softer chocolate on top but that requires them to be kept cold almost all of the time. You can also just melt chocolate, or even temper it, and pour it on top, but I like the texture of the ganache on top instead. Treat yourself, make these, and serve with a hot, black coffee for breakfast.

Millionaire Shortbread Bars
Ingredients
Shortbread
3 sticks Unsalted Butter, room temp
1 cup White Cane Sugar
3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Kosher Salt

Caramel Filling
2 - 14oz cans Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 stick Unsalted Butter, cubed
4 tbsp Dark Corn Syrup
1 tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache
3/4 cup Heavy Cream
12 oz dark chocolate, chips or chopped pieces
Flakey Salt

Instructions
First make the shortbread. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the middle. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Once combined, add in the flour and salt, mixing until it is crumbly but not smooth. If using a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, then use a pastry blender, two forks, or your hands to mix in the flour and salt until crumbly. Prepare a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper hanging over every side as if you're creating a small basket to catch all the dough. Press the dough evenly across the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until edges are just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely in the pan. When the shortbread is fully cooled, continue with the next layers.

For the caramel filling, place all ingredients except vanilla extract in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. You'll need to stir constantly with a rubber/silicone spatula so everything combines and heats evenly, getting the sauce up to 220 degrees with an instant read thermometer. If you don't have a thermometer, the mixture will be a warm butterscotch color with large bubbles of caramel lava bursting out everywhere. Remove from heat and continue to stir, and stir in the vanilla. When everything is mixed together, pour over the shortbread layer and smooth to make it even. Let it cool slightly before adding the chocolate.

For the ganache, in a microwave safe dish - I used a glass liquid measuring cup - heat heavy cream in 30 second increments until bubbling. You can also do this is a small saucepan on the stove. When the cream is hot, pour in the chocolate and let it sit for few minutes. Then stir to combine, letting the heat from the cream melt the chocolate. Once there are no more streaks of white and black, smooth over the caramel layer on the baking dish. Top with flakey salt. Transfer to the fridge to let it set, then cover and refrigerate overnight.

To serve, remove the parchment basket from the pan and place directly on a cutting board. Working quickly, cut your desired size bars and serve. Keep bars refrigerated and in an airtight container.