Terry’s Chocolate Orange Millionaires Shortbread
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Buttery orange flavoured shortbread, delicious homemade caramel, and Terry’s chocolate orange goodness on top. Perfect Christmas traybake!
Chocolate orange millionaires
So, yeah… chocolate orange themed millionaires shortbread anyone?! Honestly, I have wanted to post this recipe FOR SO LONG but I wanted to hold off till Christmas time. To me there’s something very christmassy about Terry’s Chocolate Orange maybe because I always got one in my Christmas stocking as a child, but now I have the perfect nostalgic Christmas bake.
I simply adore Terry’s chocolate orange and I simply adore millionaires shortbread, so this recipe was a bit of a given. I’ve made this several times, and I adore the extra Orange in the shortbread, rather than just the chocolate orange melted on top. If you love Terry’s Chocolate Orange as much as I do, you will also love my showstopper Terry’s Chocolate Orange Drip Cake or the decadent Mini Chocolate Orange Cheesecakes.
Similar recipe
This bake follows the same sort of structure as my salted caramel millionaires shortbread and millionaires shortbread – back to basics because those recipes just work. They’re reliable, they’re well loved, and they make the perfect foundation to build on. So making a festive version using Terry’s Chocolate Orange on top felt like the natural next step, a cosy, cheerful twist that looks gorgeous on a Christmas table.
I also couldn’t resist adding some orange-tinted chocolate drizzle for decoration. It’s simple, but it makes the traybake look extra special, especially when you’re planning to gift it or take it along to a gathering. It’s not hard to do but really does level up the bake, simply pour on the orange flavoured chocolate and drag a cocktail stick through to create the perfect swirls.
Shortbread
Adding orange flavour directly into the shortbread gives this bake the most delicious citrus kick. It’s subtle, zesty, and unbelievably moreish. Totally optional of course, but if you’re an orange lover, you don’t want to skip it. Whilst I used Terry’s Chocolate Orange… because… iconic… you can absolutely swap in any flavoured chocolate you fancy. Lindt, Cadbury, supermarket own… everything works.
When I handed these out to my usual group of taste testers (a very committed and very hungry bunch), the whole tray disappeared so fast I barely got a second piece. They’re brutally honest when something isn’t quite right, but these got full marks all round and they even ask when the next batch is coming.
Caramel
For the caramel, you REALLY have to work on it. You can’t use a tin of carnations caramel and stick it on top as it doesn’t set. You can’t really skip the steps, as it really is a caramel. I don’t often make my caramels from complete scratch as many of my readers prefer the easier versions, and I get that. However, if you want to see how I make my caramel you can watch my Millionaire Shortbread video on YouTube.
You have to make sure to stir the caramel a lot to prevent it from catching and burning. I use a medium level of heat, and a larger pan so it’s easier to stir. You have to be careful as it obviously does get VERY hot, but its worth it. Keep an eye on the mixture turning a slightly darker golden colour and holding the texture and consistency of soft fudge, any more than that and you can end up with hard toffee.
Chocolate orange topping
Once the caramel has cooled and set, finish it off with a generous layer of melted Terry’s Chocolate Orange. It’s smooth, soft, and it melts like a dream. A swirl of orange-coloured white chocolate across the top gives that classic marbled finish. I have seen white chocolate Terry’s Chocolate Oranges in the supermarkets before so if you don’t want to make your own you might get lucky and find one of them to melt down and swirl in.
The fabulous final touch, popping a little chocolate orange segment onto each slice makes them look like perfect mini portions. These cut into uniform squares and the segments fill the square perfectly. It’s festive, it’s fun, and it looks like you’ve made way more effort than you have – these have been a winner at Christmas and New Year parties but also who doesn’t love a Chocolate Orange all year round?!
Tips & tricks
- This will keep in an airtight container for at least 1 week – if they last that long.
- If you caramel is rock solid when you remove it from the fridge, you have slightly over done it. Not to worry though, when you pour the chocolate on, leave it to set at room temperature rather than in the fridge and it should soften the caramel slightly.
- **If you struggle to cut your shortbread and tray bakes without the chocolate cracking on top, set it at room temperature rather than in the fridge and it’ll be softer so therefore won’t crack when you cut it.
- You can use normal milk chocolate if you wish, or even use orange extract to flavour it this traybake.
Terry's Chocolate Orange Millionaires Shortbread!
Ingredients
Shortbread Ingredients
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 100 g caster sugar
- 275 g plain flour
- Zest 2 oranges
Caramel Ingredients
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp caster sugar
- 4 tbsp golden syrup
- 397 g condensed milk (one tin)
Decoration
- 300 g Terry's chocolate orange
- 75 g white chocolate
- orange food colouring
- Terry's chocolate orange segments
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180ºc/160ºc Fan, and line a 9" deep square tin with parchment paper.
- Cream together the sugar and butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until smooth – mix in the flour and orange zest until a dough is formed. It will be crumbly but the ingredients will be evenly dispersed!
- Firmly press the mixture into the bottom of tin and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until pale golden on top!
- Once baked, remove from the oven and leave to the side. In a large saucepan pour the condensed milk, butter, sugar, and golden syrup and melt on a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved – stir frequently to stop anything from catching.
- Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat up high and let the mixture come to boiling point and boil for 5-7 minutes stiring constantly so that the mixture doesn’t catch. BE CAREFUL as the mixture is VERY hot and can burn you if it splashes back!
- The mixture will be ready when it has changed to a slightly darker golden colour, and has thickened to a soft fudge texture!
- Pour the caramel onto the shortbread base and leave to set for an hour in the fridge.
- Once set, melt the chocolate orange and pour over the caramel – melt the white chocolate and mix with a little orange food colouring and swirl it into the chocolate orange with the end of a cake skewer so it forms a pretty pattern or just drizzle it over.
- Put a chocolate orange slice on it for each piece when you eventually cut it. Chill the shortbread back in the fridge for another 1-2 hours until the chocolate has gone hard**!
- Chop your shortbread into the separate pieces and enjoy!
Notes
- This will keep in an airtight container for at least 1 week – if they last that long!
- If you caramel is rock solid when you remove it from the fridge, you have slightly over done it. Not to worry though, when you pour the chocolate on, leave it to set at room temperature rather than in the fridge and it should soften the caramel slightly.
- **If you struggle to cut your shortbread and tray bakes without the chocolate cracking on top, set it at room temperature rather than in the fridge and it’ll be softer so therefore won’t crack when you cut it!
- You can use normal milk chocolate if you wish, or even use orange extract to flavour it this traybake.
I love this recipe especially at Christmas time but I have an Osijek, everytime I add food colouring to the white chocolate it congealed and goes really funny, any tips on adding colouring to white chocolate?
You have to use the correct type of colouring – if it seizes, it’s not for chocolate. In the UK I use sugar flair, colour splash, pro-gel!
Set really well and look delicious! Biscuit base is slightly crumbly, how would I fix this?
When you add the shortbread you need to really push it down and make the ingredients firm and maybe bake for slightly less time? x
Hi Jane, what orange food colouring do you recommend?
I use progel, sugar flair, wilton, colour splash!
Hey jane! I love this recipe, tried so many of yours and I always compliment your recipes to everyone I make for, when doing this one, can I make a smaller batch?? How would I work this out sorry? Thanks again! X
Hey! So I usually say half is about a 7″ square tin – and then I would just halve everything! x
Hi Jane,
Which orange extract do you find the best?
I love any Valencian supermarket ones or Nielsen Massey!
Made these the other day and absolutely loved them and couldn’t stop myself from tucking into just 1 more every time! I also used the recipe for the Mini Egg Millionaire Shortbread’s around Easter time and those were delicious as well (my wife’s favourite out of the 2 recipes)! By far the best layer of caramel I have ever tasted and nice & easy recipes to follow, thank you so much Jane, looking forward to trying out more of your recipes in the future 🙂
Hey really want to try and nail this recipe! I was just wondering what the best way is to melt the Terry’s chocolate? I tried to do it in the pot (was a mistake) but it burned before it was all smooth? Thanks!
So you either melt chocolate in a microwave (some need it on half heat), or you melt it in a double boiler (a bowl above a pan of simmering water) – chocolate can’t often be melted straight in a pan on the hob! X
Personally, I don’t think the calories count, because if you are counting them, you really shouldn’t be eating millionaires shortcake! 🤣
Hi Jane. When setting the caramel… Do I have to wait for it to cool. To out it in the fridge or does it go in hot? Thankyou x
I put it in the fridge whilst still hot personally!
Hey 🙂 I love all your recipes! But when I was doing the caramel, I left it bubble until the sugar was dissolved and then upped the temp to make it bubble and to turn colour, but I don’t know if I done it to long as soon as this their seemed to be like oil over costing the caramel? Can you tell me what I done wrong please? I can never seem to get the caramel right 🙁
So when you are dissolving the sugar, it shouldn’t be boiling – it just needs to melt down slowly! Then, you start the boiling – and if you over do it or have the heat too high it can split a bit! You can sometimes bring it off the heat and whisk it till it comes back together! I’d recommend watching my Millionaires Shortbread video on YouTube as I show exactly how I make the caramel!
Hi Jane! I made these and they were delicious apart from the fact my shortbread tasted a bit sour from the zest of the orange! Do you know why this could be? Is it too much zest, or perhaps the oranges I was using?
It could be the oranges you were using – for me it just makes it orangey! You can use orange extract instead!
Loved making these!
Easy to follow your recipe 😊
they look amazing and taste beautiful (very sweet!)
I think I over cooked my caramel though as it is more chewy than I expected 🙈 do you think this will be the case?
Thank you
Beci 😊
Hey! Ahh thank you! And yes if they’re chewy that means they’re slightly overdone is all!
I made these. Absoloutley delicious and easy to follow too, thankyou. Quick question though on your nutritional values it’s states how many calories per portion. How many portions did you make from it? I cut mine into 20 as I used the smaller segments of Terry’s. Just wondered if yours would be cut into less pieces with it being larger segments?
Mine is 16 portions as stated on the recipe! The nutritional values are only estimated however as it depends entirely on what exact ingredients you use and so on!
When making the shortbread base, it was more like a dough than crumbly, but i used the correct ingredients and volumes, do you know a reason for this
Do you mean after it’s finished baking? If so it just needed a little more baking! If you mean before baking, its perfect and will bake very well!
Hi Jane,
Do you think this could be frozen at all?
Thanks
Lucy
Yes it can!