Millionaires Mississippi Mud Pies

T&L1I am delighted to be collaborating with Tate & Lyle Sugars drawing inspiration from their Tate & Lyle range of brown and golden sugars to create some original recipes and ideas.

The range consists of seven sugars inspired by sugar cane producing regions across the globe. Within the range you can find a British-inspired Golden Caster sugar, large amber crystals of Guyanese-inspired Demerara and a Mississippi-inspired Dark Soft Brown sugar. Each of the products in the brown range offers a unique taste and texture, making them perfect for all types of baking.

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I have created Millionaires Mississippi Mud Pies, which are the best of two iconic bakes, in one delicious individual sized treat. Tate & Lyle ®, Dark Soft Brown Sugar is the hero of the recipe and the inspiration behind its creation. Inspired by the Mississippi, the sugar reflects the sugar cane farming tradition of the Deep South. Used in both the chocolate shortbread crust and caramel filling, the rich, sweet, big taste of the sugar compliments both components perfectly. The moist texture of the sugar ensures the shortbread and caramel melts easily in the mouth and in the saucepan!

Both elements of the Millionaire Mississippi Mud Pies are super simple to create, requiring no complicated method, equipment, or sugar thermometers. The star nozzle is really the only special piece of equipment needed. Using it creates the ‘magnolia’ cream shaped flowers used to decorate the pies. Mississippi is often referred to as the Magnolia State, so seemed fitting to depict it in the decoration. However, a spoonful of cream will work and taste just as well, especially when sprinkled with DIY chocolate shavings. Created by simply using a spoon to scrape away the set chocolate left around the inside of the bowl having applied it to the top of the pies. No chocolate or expense is spared when it comes to these millionaires! When it comes to the chocolate, feel free to use either dark or milk to top the caramel filling, or a mix of both. I personally like using a high cocoa solid milk chocolate as I find it compliments and contrasts against the darker chocolate shortbread crust beautifully.

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The caramel filling can be made as gooey or as dense as you prefer, depending on how long you cook if for. Unlike an ordinary millionaire’s shortbread where there’s normally only a base, these muffin sized treats have shortbread sides to capture all the rich soft brown caramel. Whether fudgy and set or more fluid and fondant in it’s style, I encourage you to experiment and champion both.

RECIPE

Shortbread

100g Tate & Lyle dark soft brown sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

200g salted butter, softened

200g plain flour, sifted

100g cocoa powder, sifted

Caramel

200g Tate & Lyle dark soft brown sugar

200ml double cream

Topping

100g dark or milk chocolate, chopped into small pieces

200ml double cream

Decoration

copper clusters

METHOD

Beat the sugar, vanilla extract and butter together, until smooth and creamy. Add the flour and cocoa powder into the bowl. Combine the mixture together into a dough, being careful not to overwork it. Wrap in cling film or sandwich bag and chill for an hour or two in the fridge

Remove the dough from the fridge and lightly grease a 12-hole muffin tin

Roll out the dough on to a sheet of non-stick parchment paper to a thickness of 0.5cm. Depending on how sticky the dough is, you may need to dust the dough with a mix of flour and cocoa powder. Using a 9cm round cutter, cut out about 6 circles from the rolled out dough and carefully press each circle into the muffin holes with your fingers. Pull up the trimmings and re-roll and repeat the process until all the muffin holes are filled. Finally use a fork to prick holes into the bases of the dough

Chill the dough in the tin for about 15 minutes while you pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.

When ready, bake the shortbread bases for approx 15-20 minutes. The dough will puff up as it bakes, so I’d recommend taking the tin out of the oven a few times during the baking time and carefully with your fingers press the dough back down into the base and sides of the muffin holes

Once baked, leave the shortbread to cool in the tin, before carefully removing them with the help of a knife. After removing the cases, either place back in the tin, or on to a board or tray ready to fill with the caramel

To make the caramel, weigh the sugar and cream into a small/medium saucepan using a set of digital scales, if you have them to help save on the washing up! Place the pan over a medium heat and gently cook and stir the mixture until the sugar has dissolved. Continue to heat the caramel, stirring as it bubbles, until everything is fully combined and you have a thick toffee sauce

Carefully pour and divide the caramel into your shortbread bases. Leave to set in the fridge, while you prepare the chocolate topping

Melt the chocolate in a microwave or a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. When melted, use a spoon to transfer and divide over the set caramel in the shortbread bases. Once all the pies are covered in chocolate sprinkle one half of their surface with the copper crunch and leave to set. Place the bowl with the leftover chocolate in, in the fridge to set. This will be used later to create your chocolate shavings!

Once the chocolate on top of the pies and in the bowl has set, lightly whip the cream and transfer into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Carefully pipe three magnolia shaped stars in a cluster on the surface of the pies, not covered with copper crunch. Next remove the chocolate lined bowl from the fridge, and with a teaspoon scrape away chocolate shavings from the base and sides of the bowl. Finally sprinkle lightly on top of the piped cream magnolias and serve.

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For more delicious recipe inspiration, or information about the Tate & Lyle sugars for baking, please visit www.tasteandsmile.com