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Home / Recipes / Dessert / Cookies / Millionaire's Shortbread

No-Bake Millionaire’s Shortbread Bars

1 hr 30 mins
| 56 Comments |
4.70 from 46 votes
Jump to Recipe 05/20/20 | Updated: 05/17/21 | by Nora
photo collage of millionaire's shortbread bars with text overlay "millionaire's shortbread bars"

See these Millionaire Shortbread Bars below? 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. These are easy to make, require no baking and are full of caramel and chocolate – irresisitbly delicious!

stack of no bake millionaire's shortbread bars

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Bars

Chocolate and caramel are a match made in heaven. Add a crumbly shortbread base – and you’ve got yourself the best treat.

In the UK, these are called “Millionaire’s Shortbread”, and I first made them when I was 15 from a cookbook I had been gifted – but it was an all-from-scratch recipe and took about 10 hours to complete.

I simplified the recipe to turn it into the easiest dessert you can make without much fuss!

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

collage of images to show ingredients for Millionaire's Shortbread
Ingredients for Millionaire’s Shortbread: Melted butter (plus some more unmelted butter), shortbread cookies, brown sugar, condensed milk and chocolate.

Ingredient notes:

  • Sweetened 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.
  • Chocolate: Feel free to use your favorite chocolate chips for the topping, we like semi-sweet best but milk chocolate or dark chocolate work, too.
  • Shortbread: I only tested these with Walker’s Shortbread (affiliate link), so If you use a different brand you may see different results.

Note: If you prefer to make your own shortbread base, follow the steps in my Lemon Bars for the base (cut in HALF). Bake the base around 20-25 minutes, or until it’s lightly golden brown. Cool completely before adding the caramel.

Step by step photos

collage of photos to show steps to make millionaire's shortbread bars

The steps in this recipe are really easy –

1) Blitz shortbread and melted butter to form the base, then

2) press it into the pan and chill.

3) Combine butter, brown sugar and condensed milk in a saucepan,

4) simmer until thickened.

5) Pour over base, chill, then

6) pour melted chocolate on top and chill until firm.

The most important part is waiting for each layer to chill in between!

Tips & tricks

  • Caramel: 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.
  • Chilling: Do make sure to stick to the chilling times in between the layers, or they may end up mixed together.
  • Slicing: They are quite solid after chilling, so let them sit at room temperature for a bit before slicing.
three stacks of millionaire's shortbread on white platter

Storage tips

I like to store these 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.


If you want to bring a dessert EVERYONE will rave about to your next potluck or party – make it this one! It’s the hit of every party for sure.

white plate with fork and shortbread bars

Watch the recipe video

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram. Sign up for my email list, too!

Printable Recipe Card
close up photo of a stack of millionaire's shortbread bars
Save Recipe Saved!

No-Bake Millionaire’s Shortbread Bars

An easy no-bake dessert bar with a shortbread base, a caramel filling and a chocolate topping!
Recipe by Nora from Savory Nothings
made it? tap the stars to add your rating!
4.70 from 46 votes
Print Add Review

Recipe details

Prep 15 mins
Cook 30 mins
Total 1 hr 30 mins
Servings 12 bars
Difficulty Easy

Equipment

  • Food Processor
  • 8×8 Inch Baking Pan

Ingredients
 

For the Base

  • 10.5 ounces shortbread cookies processed to crumbs
  • 7 tablespoons unsalted butter melted

For the Caramel Layer

  • 6 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk

For the Chocolate Layer

  • 7 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Instructions
 

To Make the Base

  • Grease a 8×8 square baking pan well. Add the cookie crumbs to a bowl. Add the melted 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.
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Notes

Ingredient Notes:

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.
Chocolate: Feel free to use your favorite chocolate chips for the topping, we like semi-sweet best but milk chocolate or dark chocolate work, too
Shortbread: I only tested these with Walker’s Shortbread, so If you use a different brand you may see different results

Cooking Tips:

Caramel: 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.
Chilling: Do make sure to stick to the chilling times in between the layers, or they may end up mixed together.
Slicing: They are quite solid after chilling, so let them sit at room temperature for a bit before slicing.

Storage tips

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.
Nutrition is an estimate.

More recipe information

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: British

More dessert bars

  • Easy Lemon Bars
  • Oatmeal Cookie S’Mores Bars
  • World’s Best Brownies
  • No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Or, click here to browse all my cookies and bars, or click here to browse all of my dessert recipes.

Nora Rusev from Savory Nothings
About Nora 
When I got married to my professional chef husband, I realized I had to step up my game in the kitchen. Now I share my favorite foolproof family recipes here on Savory Nothings: Chef-approved, kid-vetted and easy enough for everyday home cooks like you and me!   Learn more.

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Comments

  1. NickiDE says

    May 18, 2021 at 3:05 pm

    5 stars
    Delicious! These will be going on my Christmas cookie trays. The caramel layer took about 25 minutes, but it is worth the wait. I’m wondering if just melting caramel candies might work too? May give that a try.

    Reply
    • Nora says

      May 24, 2021 at 3:53 pm

      I’m so glad!

      Reply
  2. Margaret Kirkwood says

    May 17, 2020 at 8:23 pm

    5 stars
    They are amazing have made them lots of times. My friend’s and family love them.

    Reply
    • Nora Rusev says

      May 18, 2020 at 8:49 pm

      I’m so glad, Margaret! My family really enjoys these too, so I’m happy to hear yours feels the same.

      Reply
  3. Margaret Kirkwood kwood says

    February 28, 2020 at 9:08 pm

    5 stars
    Great and easy recipe. Taste amazing will be making this recipe a lot.

    Reply
  4. Amber says

    December 23, 2019 at 7:40 pm

    5 stars
    I loved it thankyou soo much!! My siblings loved it! 😁😍

    Reply
  5. Rita Jones says

    December 12, 2019 at 6:35 pm

    May be a silly question. I plan on making these. After these are made, do they need to be refrigerated or can they just be stored in a closed container until they all devoured! I’m sure it won’t take long! They look amazing!

    Reply
    • Nora Rusev says

      December 12, 2019 at 7:46 pm

      Rita, not a silly question at all! I definitely need to update the post with this information. They can be kept either way for a few days. Depends on how you like them – they stay soft on the counter, and much firmer in the fridge. If it feels safer to you to keep them in the fridge, but you want them soft to eat, just let them sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving. Hope that helps!

      Reply
  6. Lauren Vavala says

    January 12, 2019 at 3:38 am

    5 stars
    These look so amazing! Im going to make a batch for a my kid next week – they will love them!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      January 14, 2019 at 8:34 pm

      Hope your kiddo enjoyed the bars!

      Reply
  7. Nikki Lynch says

    December 17, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    5 stars
    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!!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      December 18, 2018 at 4:05 pm

      So happy to hear this, Nikki! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review – I appreciate your time.

      Reply
  8. Adam Paget says

    February 09, 2018 at 6:31 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Nora says

      February 10, 2018 at 9:03 pm

      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.

      Reply
    • Nancy Clay says

      May 27, 2018 at 3:50 pm

      Then God bless the Scottish!

      Reply
  9. Tiff says

    July 17, 2017 at 7:53 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Nora says

      July 17, 2017 at 9:20 pm

      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!

      Reply
  10. Victoria says

    March 06, 2017 at 4:03 pm

    4 stars
    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!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      March 08, 2017 at 7:10 pm

      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!

      Reply
  11. Silvia ibarra says

    December 05, 2016 at 8:00 am

    Can you send to me the full recibe???

    Reply
    • Nora says

      December 07, 2016 at 2:36 pm

      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!

      Reply
  12. Susan says

    January 06, 2016 at 12:51 am

    5 stars
    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!!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      January 06, 2016 at 10:07 pm

      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.

      Reply
  13. Denise says

    November 29, 2015 at 7:20 am

    What type of shortbread cookies did you use in this recipe?

    Reply
    • Nora says

      November 29, 2015 at 12:17 pm

      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!

      Reply
  14. Hezzi-D says

    June 07, 2015 at 11:08 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Nora says

      July 10, 2015 at 9:21 am

      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.

      Reply
  15. Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says

    May 20, 2015 at 8:18 pm

    I love Millionaire’s Shortbread – and this no bake version looks yummy! Sharing!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      May 24, 2015 at 4:41 pm

      Thanks so much, Michelle!

      Reply
  16. Lois says

    April 04, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    5 stars
    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!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      April 05, 2015 at 5:43 pm

      Thank you so much for sharing your story Lois, hope you and your family like the Millionaire’s Bars and have a wonderful Easter!

      Reply
  17. Megan says

    March 22, 2015 at 11:20 am

    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

    Reply
    • Nora says

      March 22, 2015 at 2:21 pm

      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 🙂

      Reply
  18. Mary says

    November 22, 2014 at 9:04 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      November 25, 2014 at 10:10 pm

      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!

      Reply
      • Bonnie Martin says

        December 13, 2014 at 11:06 pm

        5 stars
        My caramel never thickened after an hour and a half. Very disappointing.

        Reply
        • Nora says

          December 14, 2014 at 10:29 am

          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!

          Reply
        • Catarina says

          May 30, 2015 at 1:01 pm

          I was having the same problem so i cranked up the heat, made caramel in no time!

          Reply
          • Nora says

            June 01, 2015 at 7:27 pm

            Awesome Catarina – glad you could fix it!

        • joni says

          June 08, 2015 at 2:41 am

          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.

          Reply
          • Nora says

            July 10, 2015 at 9:21 am

            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 says

          July 02, 2015 at 2:52 pm

          Same thing happened to me. I think I will try it with sweetened condensed milk.

          Reply
          • Nora says

            July 10, 2015 at 9:19 am

            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.

  19. Marla Meridith says

    November 17, 2014 at 4:55 pm

    Totally love these bars!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      November 17, 2014 at 5:27 pm

      Thank you so much Marla!

      Reply
  20. Shari Hardin says

    November 11, 2014 at 3:34 am

    I really want to try these this weekend, but I’m confused, the recipe calls for unsweetened condensed milk, is that correct?

    Reply
    • Nora says

      November 11, 2014 at 7:49 am

      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!

      Reply
      • karen says

        November 17, 2017 at 8:32 pm

        5 stars
        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.

        Reply
        • Nora says

          November 18, 2017 at 9:11 pm

          Thanks, Karen! This is so confusing, lol. So there’s evaporated milk, unsweetened condensed milk and sweetened condensed milk?

          Reply
  21. Nora says

    October 31, 2014 at 8:15 pm

    I’m the same! And it’s fun to make your own treats 🙂

    Reply
  22. Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says

    October 31, 2014 at 2:53 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Nora says

      October 31, 2014 at 8:14 pm

      I agree! Oh they are so good… But it’s so much work to make them the more complicated way!

      Reply
  23. Sarah | Broma Bakery says

    October 31, 2014 at 2:49 pm

    I have no words. Just swooning over here.

    Reply
    • Nora says

      October 31, 2014 at 8:14 pm

      Awwww, I’ll forgive the silence 😉

      Reply
  24. Liz says

    October 30, 2014 at 6:43 pm

    You know what I like most about your recipes? They’re all fabulous and beautiful. I’m adding this to my ever-growing list.

    Reply
    • Nora says

      October 30, 2014 at 10:00 pm

      Awwww thank you Liz <3

      Reply

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Nora Rusev from Savory Nothings

Hi, I'm Nora! I wasn't always a good cook, but then I fell in love with a professional chef and learned my way around the kitchen. Now I share all my secrets to effortlessly great food here on my blog, bite-sized for home cooks just like me and you.

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