A delicious treat inspired by a mother-daughter road trip and a time-honored tradition.
Bourbon and Millionaire Bars
The Kentucky Derby
I don’t usually watch a lot of tv, but there are three events in the year that are appointment television for me: the March Madness championship game, the Super Bowl and the Kentucky Derby.
The first Saturday in May is traditionally when the derby is ran. However, due to the events of the day, it was postponed until September.
To pay tribute to the time-honored tradition, a couple weeks ago my family and I celebrated by mixing together mint juleps and re-watching the Triple Crown races of Secretariat, American Pharoah and Justify.
However, after making the mint juleps, it begged the question: What do I do with the leftover bourbon? I could drink it, but given the size of the bottle, that seemed excessive. My second option seemed much more fun and reasonable: try out a new recipe.
Bourbon Millionaire Bars
After contemplating and testing a slew of recipes, I decided upon bourbon millionaire bars.
The inspiration came from a road trip my mom and I took last October to the South. Among the places we visited were Lexington, Kentucky and the surrounding horse farms. While there, we toured the Woodford Reserve Distillery (the presenting sponsor of the Kentucky Derby). One of our souvenirs was a bag of bourbon salted caramels. Now, most people may choose to spend their evenings of vacation exploring the night life their destination has to offer. However, my mom and I went back to our AirBnB and ate nearly the entire bag of caramels while binge watching Gilmore Girls.
To be completely transparent, I had never had a millionaire bar before making these. However, I believe I am now a convert. With three layers consisting of shortbread, caramel and chocolate, what’s not to love? If you’d rather not use the bourbon, simply add in an extra teaspoon of vanilla. I hope you enjoy these bars as much as I do!
Blessings on your home and table,
~Natalie
In other news, I am in LOVE with Will Reagan’s album “Tell All My Friends”. I’ve had it on repeat for pretty much the last two weeks. I included a link to the music video of one of my favorite songs on the album. I encourage you to go check it out!
Bourbon Millionaire Bars
Ingredients
Shortbread Layer
- ½ cup unsalted butter slightly softened
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
Bourbon Salted Caramel
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 14.5oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 3 Tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1/4 cup bourbon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
Chocolate Layer
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter cubed and room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
Shortbread Layer
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line an 8×8" pan with parchment paper or grease pan and dust with flour, tapping out excess over the sink.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour and salt.
- Using your fingers or a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture is the size of small peas.
- Mix in the vanilla and egg yolk until well combined.
- Press mixture into pan until it's well-packed. Bake 20 minutes or until shortbread is light-brown. Cool completely in pan.
Salted Caramel Layer
- In a large saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, butter, and condensed milk. Place over medium heat, and bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture is a light-amber color.
- Remove from heat and stir in bourbon, vanilla, and salt.
- Pour mixture over cooled shortbread layer. Place in refrigerator to cool a couple hours until caramel has set.
Chocolate Layer
- Using a double boiler, or placing a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water, combine chocolate chips, corn syrup and butter, stirring constantly until chocolate has melted. Stir in salt. Pour chocolate over caramel layer and place in refrigerator to chill until set.
- Cut into bars, and sprinkle with flaky sea salt if desired.
For more recipes using bourbon, check out my chocolate bourbon pecan pie!
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