TWD-Dulce de Leche Duos

Well, after joining Tuesdays with Dorie over a year and a half ago, it's my turn to pick the recipe!!

I chose Dulce de Leche Duos. Dulce de leche means "candied milk" in Spanish. Those of you not familiar with it, it's really just sweetened condensed milk boiled for a long time until it's thick, dark and caramel-y. I made it once in the oven for a gelato recipe, but I prefer buying it in the can.

This recipe is dulce de leche sandwiched between two dulce de leche flavored cookies. The cookies are straight forward and come together in a few minutes.

After I dropped them all on the pans and started baking them, I realized I made them too big. They flattened out quite a bit (I baked them while I was out of town in a MUCH higher elevation).

So there was quite a bit more surface area to spread the dulce de leche. Can't complain about that.

These are so yummy if you like dulce de leche. The cookies are soft and warm with caramel flavor, and the smooth, creamy dulce de leche filling is great little surprise in the middle. In the "Playing Around" section, Dorie suggests using chocolate ganache filling or dipping the cookie bottoms in chocolate before spreading the dulce de leche. I think this would make them ultra-sweet, as dulce de leche could give you a toothache by itself.
This girl loved them. After this picture was taken, I spent 5 minutes scrubbing dulce de leche off her face.

Dulce de Leche Duos

by Dorie Greenspan from Baking From My Home to Yours

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cups store-bought dulce de leche, plus more for filling

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
 Whisk together the 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 the butter at medium speed until soft. Add the 3/4 cup of 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 curdled- it will smooth out when the flour mixture goes in. 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 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front the back at the midway point. The cookies should be honey brown with a light sugar crust, but they will still 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.
Makes about 30 sandwich cookies