This is Week 2 of our Saveur Holiday Cookie Challenge: Cookies We Love. I chose to bake the Alfajores, a popular Latin-American dulce de leche sandwich cookie. Here’s the recipe from Saveur, with my notes following:

Alfajores (Latin-American Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies)
(makes about 20 sandwich cookies)

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups cornstarch
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup sugar
10 tbsp. unsalted butter,
softened
1 tbsp. cognac or brandy
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
4 egg yolks
Canned dulce de leche, for filling
cookies

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350°.

In a bowl, sift together cornstarch, flour, and baking powder; set aside. In a mixer fitted with a paddle, beat together sugar and butter until fluffy. Add cognac and zest; beat. Add yolks one at a time; beat. Add dry ingredients; mix.

Transfer dough to a floured surface, knead briefly; divide into 3 pieces. Working with 1 dough piece at a time, roll dough to 1/4″ thickness. Using a 2 1/2″ round cookie cutter, cut out cookies; transfer to parchment paper—lined baking sheets, spaced 1″ apart. Reroll scraps and repeat.

Bake until golden, 12–15 minutes. Let cool. Flip half the cookies over; top each with 1 heaping tsp. dulce de leche. Top with remaining cookies.

Notes:

I have to say one thing, right off the bat: Really, Saveur?!? Canned dulce de leche?!? Dulce de leche is the easiest thing ever to make at home, provided you give it the proper time and attention. See my instructions on making dulce de leche of a few weeks ago, here. Please don’t use ready-made dulce de leche if you can avoid it. Real dulce de leche should only contain milk and sugar. The ready-made variety in cans and squeeze bottles has loads of other stuff in it. Make it yourself. It lasts for-freaking-ever in the fridge.

This is a nice, sturdy, crispy butter cookie. I used Orange Curacao instead of the brandy, and I honestly believe I could have skipped the liqueur and just used a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

This is a serious question for you guys, and I want you to be honest: Have you ever filled a sandwich cookie where the filling didn’t just goosh out? Or the top cookie slide off the filling? *Postscript – A day later, the dulce de leche filling set up. The tops are now firmly attached and no sliding. Guess I was impatient. The moral? Fill the cookies and leave them on a level surface for a couple of hours before storing!

The verdict? This is a very quick and easy to work with cookie. Except for the filling part. And it’s delicious. But, despite the elegant dulce de leche, unless you dump a boatload of holly on the plate, it just isn’t fancy or seasonal enough for the holidays, in my opinion. The search continues…

Please be sure to visit my comrades in cookies to see what they chose to serve up!

Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes

Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen

Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook

Judy of No Fear Entertaining

Kelly of Sass & Veracity

Michelle of Big Black Dog

RJ of Flamingo Musings (that’s me!)

Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench

Tiffany of The Nesting Project

Courtney of Coco Cooks

Dulce De Leche

I’m a little late, but here’s my contribution to the 12 Weeks of Holiday (Christmas) Cookies roundup! I made some dulce de leche (delicious milk caramel) earlier this week, and wanted to incorporate it into a cookie. For the sandwich cookies, I chose to adapt a shortbread cookie recipe out of Marye Audet’s Everything Cookies & Brownies Cookbook, called “Petticoat Tales”, and it worked out beautifully!

Petticoat Tails
(adapted from The Everything Cookies & Brownies Cookbook & used by permission)

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Preparation:

Cream together the butter, confectioner’s sugar, and vanilla. Blend in the flour and salt. Wrap and refrigerate overnight (I was impatient and only chilled the dough for a couple of hours).

Preheat oven to 400º F.

Roll teaspoons of dough into balls (I used a round teaspoon measuring spoon) and place on cookie sheets. Flatten the balls with the bottom of a glass, dipped in sugar, to 1/8″ thickness.

Bake for 8 – 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Notes:

I had a little difficulty with the “glass dipped in sugar” part. The sugar wouldn’t stick to the glass, but the cookies did. To remedy that, I put some demerara sugar in a small plate, placed the cookie balls in the sugar and flattened slightly with my fingers. I then placed the cookies on the (ungreased) cookie sheet, sugar-side up (spaced about 1″ apart), and flattened them with the glass. Worked like a charm!

Also, allow the cookies to cool completely on the cookie sheet after baking. I wanted these to be really pale to contrast with the dulce de leche filling, so I baked them for the minimum 8 minutes. They were fully baked and perfectly crispy – exactly what I was looking for!

But then, I expected no less from my friend, Marye. Check out her books and check out her blog, Restless Chipotle for awesome writing and recipes!

To make your own Dulce de Leche, see my recent post on Apple Cream Napoleons with Dulce de Leche. It’s super-easy, but admittedly a little time-consuming. Still, you can’t beat it for flavor and versatility – and it’ll keep for weeks. Once you make it, you’ll look for all kinds of ways to use it, too!

Dulce De Leche

I made some Apple Ginger Jam for next week’s Tigress’ Can Jam (here’s the jam recipe), and I started thinking of various things I can do with it. Well, besides spreading it on a toasted bagel. Here’s the first thing I thought of: Apple Cream Napoleons With Dulce De Leche. Sinful, ain’t they?

I can not tell a lie. I was inspired by this blog post by my friend Jim at Oxford Falls. I read that, and the inspiration light bulb went off over my head. Also, I was in the middle of making jam at the time.

Apple Cream Napoleons With Dulce De Leche
(makes 6)

Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry
4 oz. cream cheese (softened at room temperature)
4 Tbs. Apple Ginger Jam (or your favorite jam)
1 recipe dulce de leche (follows)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400º.

Thaw the puff pastry at room temperature for about 30 minutes. On a floured surface, gently unfold and roll it out to a square, roughly 13″ x 13″. Now, you’re not going to get a perfect square – who’s kidding who, here? – so take a knife or a bench scraper and square it off to 12″ x 12″. I really did use a measuring tape that I keep in a kitchen drawer just for the purpose. Seriously.

With the knife or bench scraper, cut 12 squares about 3″ x 3″ and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. I left mine puffy, but if you prefer your squares a bit flatter, dock them by poking them a few times with a fork. Brush each square with a bit of water and sprinkle with sugar of your choice (I used demerara). Bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool (which will take only a few minutes).

In a separate bowl, beat the softened cream cheese with a spoon until fluffy. Add the jam and stir to combine. Spread this mixture on half of the puff pastry squares and top each with a plain square.

Serve as is, or drizzle (okay, I used a heavy drizzle) with warmed dulce de leche.

Dulce de leche is a rich milk caramel sauce, hugely popular in the Spanish-speaking world, and a flavor that’s becoming more and more popular here in the U.S. Heck, even the Girl Scouts have a dulce de leche cookie! The secret’s out and you can make your own at home. Spread it on your toast, spoon it over ice cream, drizzle it over fresh fruit or just about any plain dessert you want to make a little extra-special.

Making the dulce de leche is the easiest thing on the planet, but it does take a bit of advance planning, attention, and care.

Dulce De Leche

Ingredient:

1 or 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk

Preparation:

Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Remove any labels and put the unopened can(s) of sweetened condensed milk in the pot of boiling water, reduce heat slightly so that the water continues to boil a bit less violently. Allow to boil for 2 hours, taking care to keep the water level over the tops of the cans at all times. Keep a kettle of hot water available to top off the pot when the water level drops.

Notice I said “when the water level drops.” It will. Check on the pot every 15 – 20 minutes and top off the pot when needed. Do not allow the pot to boil dry, as it’s possible that the can(s) could explode. I’ve never had it happen to me, but I’m paranoid. A little paranoia is never a bad thing.

Remove the can(s) from the water and allow to cool before handling. If not using right away, you should probably mark the contents on the can. I keep mine in the refrigerator, just to be on the safe side (see previous paragraph regarding “paranoia”). Once opened, you should transfer it to a sealable container and refrigerate. It’ll keep for months unopened, and weeks after opening… if it actually lasts that long!

When you want to use some, open a can of your now-dulce de leche, spoon some out into a microwave-safe bowl. It will be really thick. Microwave on high for 15 seconds, give it a stir, and microwave for another 10 seconds. Repeat if necessary to get the spreadable or drizzly consistency you need. It will set up once cooled, so save this step for the last moment before serving.

If you have Dulce De Leche on hand, you’ll never be at a loss for a last-minute dessert. And with the holidays approaching, expect the unexpected!

Any questions?

Dulce De Leche