Monday, October 25, 2010

Dulce de Leche Cookies

My first experience with dulce de leche was in Russia of all places. I was volunteering for a month with a youth organization to help teach English and run a camp for children and teens. Since the camp was located on an ex-military training site, living conditions were quite bleak. No electricity, no running water, and borscht. Everyday. Served by an extremely intimidating russian woman who would bang on the table with her ginormous soup ladle if you didn't finish what was in your bowl. We secretly called her "the soup nazi".

Anyways.

At the end of the camp week, we had a big celebratory dinner. I was on the dessert making team. We opened can after can of this heavenly creamy caramel stuff and mixed it with........wait for it......butter. Then layered it between stacks of thin 'pizzelle ' like cookies. It was heaven.

I later found out that the heavenly experience was indeed dulce de leche. And it has been near and dear to my heart ever since.

I recently came across this recipe on "Joy the Baker's"food blog. I have to say....it was her blog that got me hooked on food blogs in the first place. Her content is hilarious and her recipes are fabulous! She came up with these little gems and now I'm so excited to share them with you all!

Here's what you need:

Flour, sugar, butter, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, 2 eggs, 2 cans of dulce de leche and some coarse sea salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (or in my case baking spray) and set aside.


In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together 2 1/2 cups of flour with 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.


In a large mixing bowl, beat 2 sticks of butter until light and fluffy. Yep, you heard me. Two sticks of butter.


Add 3/4 cup of dulce de leche, 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar, and 1/2 cup of white sugar to the butter. Mix to combine.


Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one.


Now add the flour mixture to your mixing bowl and combine. Make sure not to over-mix!


Drop them by heaping teaspoonful's onto a *prepared cookie sheet. (*Note: the recipe actually says to line the pans with wax paper. Since I was out, I just used a baking spray. I think they would have been a little easier with the paper!)

Pop them into a 350 degree preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes. When they are done, let them cool on the pan for about 2 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack.


When the cookies have cooled, spread on some more dulce de leche. Sprinkle on a few grains of sea salt and top with another cookie.

There you have it!

~Megan

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