HappyTummy              

Oh Dulce de Leche Duos, how I love you. You’re like the cousin of the alfajor, except unlike the crumbly, shortbread-y Spanish confection, your thick, gooey, caramelly filling is sandwiched between two soft, chewy cookies. You’re fabulously delicious…even without the dulce de leche, for those who think that’s too over-the-top (crazies!).

Can you tell I loved these? For one thing, my cookies came out super-sized. I didn’t realize how much the batter would spread and thin, and my perfectly portioned cookie-scoop cookies came out of the oven about 4 inches in diameter.

I made my own dulce de leche using Chez Pim’s recipe. It was much faster than boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk.

These cookies have made their way to the top of my Dorie faves list! Thanks to Jodie of Beansy Loves Cake for picking this week’s recipe.

Recipe: Dulce de Leche Duos
Makes about 30 sandwich cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup store-bought dulce de leche, plus more for filling
• 3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs

Getting ready: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat butter at medium speed until soft. Add the Dulce de Leche and both sugars and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Don’t be concerned if the mixture looks a little curddled, it will smooth out when the flour mixture is added. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter.

Spoon the dough onto the baking sheets, using a heaping teaspoon of dough for each cookie and leaving 2 inches between them.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The cookies should be honey brown with a light sugar crust, but they will be soft, so remove the sheets from the oven but don’t touch the cookies for another minute or two. Then, using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the remaining dough, making sure you cool the baking sheets before spooning the dough onto them.

When the cookies are completely cool, spread the flat bottoms of half the cookies with a small amount of dulce de leche, and sandwich with the flat sides of the remaining cookies.

Recipe: Dulce de Leche
Adapted from Chez Pim
Makes about 1 cup

• 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 425F

Open the can of condensed milk and pour it into a medium-sized baking pan. Cover the baking pan with aluminum foil.

Place the baking pan on top of a larger pan with high sides. Add water to the larger pan until it comes halfway up to the side of the small pan. Place it in the oven and bake for about one hour. Check it every so often to make sure there’s still water in the pan, fill it if necessary.

Remove the pan from the oven and add vanilla extract. Whisk until the texture is smooth. Let it cool to room temperature before using.