Dulce De Leche Cookies

What a satisfying endeavor, baking cookies, and I seem to be doing a lot of that lately.  There is usually nothing to complicated about the process and the end results are so delicious.  A wonderful side effect is that the whole house smells great as the cookies bake. 

I have seen the recipe for these cookies on a few websites and they sounded so marvelous I had to try them.  I'm a sucker for anything that tastes of butterscotch or caramel and for those who don't know this product, dulce de leche is basically a caramelized condensed milk.  It is easily found in the Hispanic section of any grocery store in the town in which I live.  I also know that there are recipes on the Internet for making your own, but it takes hours and the thought of putting a unopened can of condensed milk in my oven to bake for a few hours is, quite frankly, a scary thought.  My oven is dirty enough without an exploded can of sticky sweet milk burning away!

These are meant to be a sandwich type cookie, but after trying one in that form, I found them to be just too rich so I opted to go with just a nice, thin single cookie.  They're great and will be added to my cookie repitoire.

Dulce De Leche Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks 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

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and position a rack in the upper third of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until just softened and broken up a bit. Add the 3/4 cup dulce de leche, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate.  Add the flour, baking soda and salt.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix only until the flour is just incorporated. You may need to finish off the mixing with a big spatula.

Spoon the dough onto the lined baking sheets using a heaping teaspoon of dough for each cookie. The dough will be soft. Leave 2 inches of space between each cookie for the baking spread.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes. The cookies will be honey brown with a light crust, but still very soft when they come out of the oven. Let them rest on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before removing to cool.

Once the cookies are cooled completely, spread them with dulce de leche and sprinkle with a bit of sea salt if you like. Keep well wrapped for up to four days.