Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cookies

Chocolate and dulce de leche—these two ingredients pretty much speak for themselves, so I’m not sure I need to say much more about them.  I will say just a bit more though—because these fudgy chocolate cookies smeared with rich dulce de leche blew our socks off (and probably made us loosen our belts)!  They are definitely one of the richest and sweetest recipes that we’ve posted on Tasty Easy Healthy Green, and not for the faint of heart!  An oozing caramel-like sauce made from condensed milk sandwiched between two dense chocolate cookies – quite the heavenly indulgence!  Definitely to be eaten only occasionally and in small doses…

I know Thanksgiving hasn’t even passed us yet, but if you have a holiday party coming up or need some cookie ideas for a cookie exchange (or competition!), definitely keep these in mind.

Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cookies

Adapted from the San Francisco Chronicle, December 2010

The original recipe suggests using a high-quality store-bought dulce de leche or making your own.  Since the only store-bought version I could find was a tiny jar for too much money, I decided to make my own.  For the most part, my homemade version turned out pretty well, but it did get a little oozy (as you can probably tell from the photo).  Baking the dulce de leche for a little longer may help to thicken it up just a little bit more.

• 1¾ cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup prepared dulce de leche (see recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 350° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a small bowl and set aside.

With a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until it is light and fluffy.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until well incorporated.  Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Place rounded teaspoons or small balls of cookie dough on to the lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart.  Bake for about 8 minutes or until the tops of the cookies start to look dry.  Remove the baking sheets from the oven and leave the cookies on the sheets until they are cool enough to move to a wire rack.  Repeat with the remaining cookies. 

Spread a fully cooled cookie with dulce de leche, top with a second cookie, and serve immediately.  Store any remaining cookies and dulce de leche in separate containers. 

Dulce de Leche

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop

There are all sorts of ways to make your own deluce de leche, including boiling cans of sweetened condensed milk in big pots of water.  Since I am very afraid of the cans exploding while boiling, I went with David Lebovitz’s method of baking the sweetened condensed milk out of the can and in the oven. 

• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
• A pinch of flakey sea salt

Preheat the oven to 425°.   Pour the condensed milk into a metal or glass pie plate (9-inches) or large loaf pan and sprinkle with a little sea salt.  Cover the pan with foil and set it in a larger pan, like a roasting pan.  Add hot water to the outer pan until it reaches halfway up the side of the inner pan.

Bake for 1 to 1¼ hours (I think I baked mine for about 1½ and may do longer next time—the total time probably will depend on your oven though),  Check a few times during baking and add water to the outer pan, if needed.  When the milk has reached the color of dark caramel or dark butter scotch, remove it from the oven.  Allow it to cool to room temperature uncovered and then whisk it until smooth.  

Tasty Easy Healthy Green Recipe Ratings: