Brown Sugar Shortbread with Salted Caramel Rarotonga Side

Salted caramel has been around for ages but I seemed to have been one of the few ‘salted caramel virgins’ before being converted by some fellow food bloggers at our annual conference the other week. Mairi from Toast had been raving about Bohemia Chocolates and their salted caramels and when I tasted them I could see why. Then my room mate at the conference, Sue from Couscous and Consciousness and I were snacking on them with a cup of tea way into the late hours of the night after a full day of conference feasting. I was hooked, I couldn’t get them off my mind and then the day after the conference I flew to Rarotonga with not a salted caramel in sight and I so wanted to indulge in some more. When you can’t tame the voice in your head and the craving in your tummy there is only one thing to do, get into the kitchen bake. It was an interesting exercise baking a batch of cookies and caramel at the tropical beach hut with limited equipment, I have given my shortbread recipe below but have linked to David Lebovitz salted caramel recipe as I had to wing mine with no internet or suger thermometer! The only difference with David’s recipe and this is when you add the cream do not return the caramel back to the heat as you want a soft caramel rather than hard.

If you are going up to Rarotonga our favourite places to eat at this year where The Moorings, Muri for lunch, they make the best fresh fish sandwiches with great views of the lagoon. Le Bon Vivant, Avarua  an intimate bistro combining French flare with the local produce. The Atutaki crayfish gnocchi, smoked marlin croquettes or the parrot fish and risotto where so good we had to go back a second night. And the Tahitian, Avarua is always good for platters of marinated fish. It’s very rustic with its plastic chairs and tables and is BYO only but the platters are worth is for a casual lunch or dinner.

This is also my entry to our monthly Sweet New Zealand baking event, hosted this month by Alessandra Zecchini, If you pop over to her blog at the end of September you will find many tasty Kiwi treats.

Life’s a beach!

Ingredients

300g Plain flour

300g Butter, softened

100g soft brown sugar

Method

Preheat oven on bake (not fan bake) to 160 degrees centigrade and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Sift flour into bowl and add the butter and sugar and rub into flour.

Kneed ingredients together to form a dough.Do not over kneed otherwise dough will become tough and biscuits will have a pastry texture instead of a shortbread texture.

Wrap dough and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes before you roll it out.

On a floured surface roll dough out to 1/2 inch thick and cut out biscuit shapes with cookie cutter or glass.

Place shortbread on a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a very light golden on edges.
Cool on a wire rack.