TWD: Dulce de Leche Duos

Jodie of Beansy Loves Cake decided on Dulce de Leche Duos for TWD this week. I am thrilled to bits with this recipe. They were a huge hit with my son too. He's not much of a cookie eater but he polished one of these off in no time at all! Our grocery store gives kids free chocolate chip cookies but he always turns the offer down. Thanks Jodie for an amazing selection - one that I will be making again and again.

I filled half of them with chocolate ganache and the other half with dulce de leche. Both were equally yummy. This was the perfect opportunity to use my homemade dulce de leche - made in the slow cooker. Click here for the "how to". It couldn't be easier or more rewarding. Really. It's the most impressive thing that's come out of my slow cooker.





The buttery cookies (even sans filling) are fantastic. Once in the oven, they 'magically' transfrom from cookie dough blobs into beautifully round circles. Make sure you leave enough room for them to spread because boy do they ever. Baking them on a silicone mat ensures that the bottoms don't get too crisp and also makes for easy removal. These tender cookies are slightly sweet - the perfect canvas for a multitude of different fillings. I did both chocolate-frosting filled and dulce de leche filled. Can't decide which ones I prefer. Next time (and there will definitely be a next time), I'll try a whipped cream cheese frosting. Yum!

For once I don't recommend underbaking them because they need a bit of structure to support the filling. If they are too soft on the bottom as some of mine were, they are a little trickier to fill.

I know, I know, we aren't supposed to post the recipe here for TWD, but I just had to make an exception and share it here because I loved these so much.

Dulce De Leche Duos
Makes 24 sandwich cookies | Dorie Greenspan

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.