These No-Bake Millionaire’s Shortbread Bars are easy to make, require no baking and are full of caramel and chocolate – almost like a homemade Twix. Everyone will love them!
No bake desserts are great for when you don’t have any free oven space – and these shortbread bars are especially delicious. For more no bake desserts, see my No Bake Oreo Truffles, my No Bake Peanut Butter Bars or my No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Pie!
*These links are affiliate links and I make a commission for purchases made after clicking through.
See these Millionaire Shortbread Bars?? 👆🏻 Here’s a secret: They’re made with store-bought shortbread cookies. Because let’s face it: We can’t always make everything from scratch (or do you make your own graham crackers to make a graham cracker crust? 🙈)
Watch the Millionaire’s Shortbread Video Tutorial:
Well, I used to believe I could make everything from scratch. But enter pregnancy. Scratch all my prior principles. And now with 3 kids? I’ll happily take the store-bought cookies for these Millionaire-worthy bars 😉
These Millionaire’s Shortbread Bars
- are easy to make (no baking required!) with store-bought shortbread cookies, condensed milk caramel and a layer of chocolate
- taste like a homemade Twix bar!
- come out extremely dangerous, because it’s SO easy to eat the entire pan… All by yourself 😅
Sometimes, shortcuts are seriously amazing. And since shortbread crumbles and butter make the perfect base for these gorgeous things – why bother making your own?
(And also Walkers make the best shortbread ever (no ad, I just love them!), I ordered these from Amazon in this recipe*)
For homemade shortbread, see my Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies!
How to Make Millionaire’s Shortbread:
Read on for the detailed steps, or scroll down for more tips to make this recipe foolproof and the printable recipe card.
1 – First, you’ll make the base (because each layer needs to chill in the fridge to firm up before you can add the next layer):
Process the shortbread into crumbs, then mix it with melted butter and press it into a lined pan.
I usually do this in a food processor – just pulse a few times and your base is ready. I have a Breville food processor that’s an amazing workhorse!
Then simply chill the base until firm, no baking required!
2 – Make the caramel: Simply stir together brown sugar, butter and condensed milk.
Do make sure to use the sweetened condensed milk and NOT evaporated milk, because the evaporated milk takes a lot longer to turn into caramel.
As soon as the caramel is thick, golden-brown and shiny, pour it over the hardened cookie base.
Chill until firm – don’t rush this or the caramel and chocolate layers will mix!
3 – Make the chocolate layer: Super easy, just melt semi-sweet chocolate chips with a little bit of butter (for extra shine!), pour over the firm caramel base and chill until everything is firm.
Then slice to serve (or make it one slice and serve yourself 😂)
Tips for the BEST Millionaire’s Shortbread Bars
- I only tested these with Walker’s Shortbread*, so If you use a different brand you may see different results
- some commenters have noted that the caramel never thickened for them. This is most likely due to brand differences, or due to using evaporated milk instead of condensed milk. As a little troubleshooting if your caramel won’t thicken, put it back on high heat (be careful not to burn it!) and let it get bubbly until you notice it starts thickening. Then you can turn the heat back down.
- feel free to use your favorite chocolate chips for the topping, we like semi-sweet best but milk chocolate or dark chocolate work, too
How do you store these bars?
I like to store them in the fridge for around 5 days, because there they keep best.
But do make sure to remove them around 30 minutes before serving, because they taste best at room temperature (they’re quite hard to chew when they’re completely chilled).
You can also freeze them for up to 3 months, if you want to make them ahead.
More Caramel Recipes You’ll Love:
- Crock Pot Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce
- Salted Dark Chocolate Caramel Rice Krispie Treats
- Cranberry White Chocolate Fudge Oatmeal Bars
I LOVE interacting with you and hearing about your experience with my recipe. Also, by adding a comment and star rating you’re helping Savory Nothings grow and get even better for you!
No-Bake Millionaire’s Shortbread Bars Recipe
Ingredients
For the Base
- 10.5 ounces shortbread cookies processed to crumbs
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
For the Caramel Layer
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 12 ounces condensed milk make sure to use the sweetened stuff
For the Chocolate Layer
- 7 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Equipment
Instructions
To Make the Base
- Grease a 8×8 square baking pan well. Add the cookie crumbs to a bowl. Melt the butter and stir it into the crumbles until everything is wet. Press the shortbread mixture into the pan in an even layer. Refrigerate until firm.
To Make the Caramel Layer
- Add all caramel ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until thickened while stirring often. Pour over the hardened shortbread base and refrigerate again until cold (else the chocolate will mix with the caramel).
To Make the Chocolate Layer
- Melt the chocolate together with 1 tablespoon butter. Pour over the caramel layer and refrigerate until hardened. Cut into bars.
Notes
Nutrition (this is an estimate)
Lauren Vavala
These look so amazing! Im going to make a batch for a my kid next week – they will love them!
Nora
Hope your kiddo enjoyed the bars!
Nikki Lynch
I made these the other day and they were delicious!! Such and easy recipe. My kiddos and hubby ate them all in a day (I may have had 2 myself). I will be making these again for an easy Christmas treat!!
Nora
So happy to hear this, Nikki! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review – I appreciate your time.
Adam Paget
I am looking forward to trying this recipe it looks great. However, the country of origin is wrong, these are actually Scottish. In fact these were invented before America was even discovered.
Nora
Thanks for the heads-up, Adam! Of course I knew these aren’t American – that was the recipe card auto-filling the information. I mean, as a semi-Brit… This is embarrassing, ha.
Nancy Clay
Then God bless the Scottish!
Tiff
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe, but I need to double check something. You used condensed milk for the caramel not evaporated milk correct? Your ingredients list says evaporated, but your video said condensed.
Nora
Hi Tiff! Thanks for noticing this mistake. The original recipe was with evaporated milk, but readers kept having issues with it not thickening. So I tried with condensed for the video and now suggest using condensed milk because it’s a lot faster. It does work with evaporated milk if that’s what you have on hand, it just takes more time. Hope that helps, let us know how the bars turn out for you!
Victoria
hi
1) when you mean chill, do you mean the freezer or refrigerator
2) when I cut the bars after I was done, the caramel and chocolate didn’t stick to the cookie base it came right off, do you know why? I made sure it was fully frozen before I cut it
thank you!
Nora
Hi Victoria! Just in the fridge, no need to freeze the bars 🙂 And you don’t need to freeze them solid before cutting, just chill them enough so the chocolate is firm. That’s probably why the layers split! I’m sorry you didn’t have a better experience!
Silvia ibarra
Can you send to me the full recibe???
Nora
Silvia, if you scroll to the bottom of the post, you’ll find the full recipe. It’s just above the comments – let me know if it’s not showing up for you so I can troubleshoot for you!
Susan
These were great! We loved them so much we’re making them for a family get together this weekend. Thanks so much for this delicious bar!!
Nora
Susan, I’m beyond happy to read this! I hope your extended family will love them just as much. Thank you so much for taking the time to report back, I truly appreciate it.
Denise
What type of shortbread cookies did you use in this recipe?
Nora
Hi Denise, thanks for asking. This is the exact type of shortbread cookie I used: http://www.amazon.com/Walkers-Shortbread-Butter-Fingers-Ounce/dp/B0014D2B86/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1448795768&sr=1-6&keywords=walkers+shortbread
I’ll link to it in the post as well for others who might want to know. I hope that helps, please don’t hesitate if you have more questions!
Hezzi-D
These look so good but I couldn’t get the evaporated milk to caramelized. I had it on the stove for well over an hour. I finally gave up and then made my own caramel with condensed milk, the way I normally do.
Nora
I’m sorry Hezzi, it seems to differ between brands. Some milks need some extra full-on heat to thicken. I’m glad you found a solution.
Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake
I love Millionaire’s Shortbread – and this no bake version looks yummy! Sharing!
Nora
Thanks so much, Michelle!
Lois
Easter weekend here in the UK and my nan (sadly passed now) always used to make this so I plan on using your recipe and take over for our family get together – thank you!
Nora
Thank you so much for sharing your story Lois, hope you and your family like the Millionaire’s Bars and have a wonderful Easter!
Megan
Going to try these this afternoon for a massive work bake-off to feed 70! need all the shortcuts I can get and these look utterly fantastic. Ill let you know how I get on. Thanks for sharing xx
Nora
Wow! Good luck on your baking ventures 😀 I hope they go well for you! In case you can’t manage the caramel layer to thicken in due time – bring it to boiling point again and cook until it thickens. That should do the trick if there’s any trouble (evaporated milk products vary sooo much in every country…). That’s the only trouble shooting I could add to the recipe to make everything faster 🙂
Mary
Your millionaire bars look wonderful but I’m also confused about the “unsweetened condensed milk.” The can of condensed milk I have in my cupboard is VERY thick and is labeled “sweetened condensed milk”, but my evaporated milk is very thin and is labeled “evaporated milk.” I believe sweetened condensed milk can be caramelized, but I haven’t heard that about evaporated milk. I’ve never heard of “UNsweetened condensed milk.” Please clarify which should be used. I’d like to try making these bars for a cookie exchange. Thanks a bunch!
Nora
Hi Mary, I’ll go change that in the recipe! It’s definitely the thin evaporated milk! And it caramelizes beautifully with the sugar added to it! I hope you’ll like the bars!
Bonnie Martin
My caramel never thickened after an hour and a half. Very disappointing.
Nora
I’m very sorry it didn’t work out for you Bonnie! The caramel can take a while to thicken but it definitely shouldn’t take this long! I’ve made this recipe various times and it took me 20 minutes, max so I have no idea why it didn’t work out for you! Did you make sure to use evaporated milk? I know there has been some confusion around that. Also, if you ever have a caramel not thicken again, try adding a tad more sugar. It’s always difficult when working with different ingredients in different countries and unfortunately I’m unable to take this into account! The caramel might also have been too cold, increasing the temperature or even bringing the caramel to the boil again for a few minutes should usually do the trick! Again, my apologies for your bad experience!
Catarina
I was having the same problem so i cranked up the heat, made caramel in no time!
Nora
Awesome Catarina – glad you could fix it!
joni
I’m glad I’m not the only one who has had this problem! Mine has been cooking for an hour and forty five minutes and it’s as thin as when I started.
Nora
Joni – I’m so sorry you didn’t have any luck with the recipe. It really just needs more heat if it doesn’t thicken. I hope you found a solution in the end!
VLH
Same thing happened to me. I think I will try it with sweetened condensed milk.
Nora
I’m sorry to hear that! Sweetened condensed milk will definitely work, the unsweetened kind sometimes just needs some extra heat to caramelize depending on the brand you’re using.
Marla Meridith
Totally love these bars!
Nora
Thank you so much Marla!
Shari Hardin
I really want to try these this weekend, but I’m confused, the recipe calls for unsweetened condensed milk, is that correct?
Nora
Yes, that’s correct! That’s what it’s called in Switzerland, I believe it’s evaporated milk in most English speaking countries! Sorry for the confusion!
karen
Nooo, evaporated milk is something totally different. Evaporated milk is like a single cream consistency and used as an alternative to cream to pour over desserts. We have condensed milk too. All the large supermarkets stock it, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury etc, its labelled condensed milk. Hope this helps.
Nora
Thanks, Karen! This is so confusing, lol. So there’s evaporated milk, unsweetened condensed milk and sweetened condensed milk?
Nora
I’m the same! And it’s fun to make your own treats 🙂
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
I definitely don’t pretend to make everything from scratch either! It’s part of the fun sometimes! Millionaire bars are one of favorite treats EVER. Definitely need to try this quicker version!
Nora
I agree! Oh they are so good… But it’s so much work to make them the more complicated way!
Sarah | Broma Bakery
I have no words. Just swooning over here.
Nora
Awwww, I’ll forgive the silence 😉
Liz
You know what I like most about your recipes? They’re all fabulous and beautiful. I’m adding this to my ever-growing list.
Nora
Awwww thank you Liz <3