Does anyone have a recipe for Irish style caramel squares?

Toast
pattycakes on 10 Nov 2012 at 20:46

My sisters and I had a bar cookie called a caramel square at the Irish Stud near Killkenny (if my memory serves me), in Ireland. It had perhaps a short crust, but I'm not sure of that detail. What I'm sure of is that the inside, the caramel part, was dry, not creamy caramel like every recipe out there. It almost had the kind of crumb that a malted milk ball would have if it weren't too hard. It had chocolate on top. I wrote to the Irish Stud and asked for the recipe and never heard back...anyone know what I'm talking about and have a recipe? If so, I would be forever indebted, as would anyone else who bakes it, because it's a great cookie. I'm a recipe developer, and I haven't a clue how they got that inside texture!

Many thanks!

Pattycakes

If you Google the Ballmaloe Cooking School, you'll find their e-mail address.  I'd send them an e-mail; you never know.

Last night, I suppose with all the fussing about the recipe, my clever sister Mary Beth wrote to the Irish Stud. (I had done so once and got no reply.) She hit the jackpot! Here's the recipe, which I will make soon and post results. Please let me know if you try them how they come out.

Thank you for your compliment on the caramel squares. Our pastry chef is a lady who has been baking for many years and she doesn’t really use recipes, more from taste. We make a shortbread base.

Then cook our own caramel using,

4 tins of condensed milk

12 tablespoons of Golden syrup

1 lb of caster sugar

1 lb of butter (melted)

This is all cooked in a pot for approx 40mins, stirring constantly

Pour the caramel on the shortbread base, allow to cool then cover with dark chocolate.

 This recipe makes 1 gastro tray size ( 32 portions ) (in the US this is a jelly roll pan or sheet cake pan measuring ~ 18"x12"/

I hope this is of help to you.

 Kindest regards,

Ronan Mackey- restaurant manager