Christmas Baking: attempt at tiramisu slices

Last Christmas, Cafe Nero sold a delicious morsel they called a tiramsu slice. It was a millionaire's shortbread with coffee caramel and white chocolate, and a dusting of cocoa powder. I ate far too many of them and was mildly distraught when I realised they hadn't returned for this winter season.

So, I decided it could not be that hard to replicate, particularly since I had a millionaire's shortbread recipe I was already confident about. Turns out, it was harder than I thought.

I made the shortbread as usual and then made the caramel with the addition of a short of espresso into which I had stirred three heaped teaspoons of instant coffee. It all seemed to be going fine until I left it bubbling away for a little too long and came back to find it had gone grainy. I have no idea why. It was weird. I beat it at length with an electric whisk which helped, but the consistency was not ideal. I think next time I would make the caramel as normal and stir in some coffee at the end.

Then, of course, I burnt the first batch of white chocolate I melted in the microwave. I do this 90% of the time I try to microwave white chocolate. I was particularly annoyed because the white chocolate was almost done and then I put it back for a little longer and got distracted telling Mr Z about my visit to the dentist, so it was practically smoking when I took it out. Huff.

Anyway, here are the finished articles. Not bad for a first go, I guess, and definitely worth trying again in the new year.