There was a stretch of time where I was volunteering a fair amount. I really enjoyed the organizations I was working with, and the responsibilities I had. Some of it was busy work, but much of it was intellectually engaging which I relished as I was no longer working “outside the home”. And yet, this volunteering had me out on weeknight evenings more than I would have liked.
One year during this time, a dear friend (who needs to go with me to volunteer rehab!), gave me a cute pad of paper that said “just say no to the sign-up sheet”. It struck a chord. So, I made a conscious decision to cut back on the volunteering and to be present as much as possible. One day, I’d be an empty nester and the time could never be recaptured.
I’ll never really know if it made a bit of difference. It’s difficult to have more than a five minute conversation with a busy teenager unless you have them trapped in the car given their busy schedules and stressful homework loads. Yet, I felt that if I were around in the evening, I may just luck out and get three minutes of precious talk-time during a snack break or be able to take notice of a mood that needed support.
So what does this have to do with Dulce de Leche Sandwich cookies?
Well, it was during this time of conscious un-volunteering that I was invited to join a group of women who were starting a dinner group. Right up my alley! I am not in a book group or garden club – this is fantastic! It’s not a committee, it’s just fun! BUT, they obviously met in the evenings so I very sadly declined the invitation, but always hoped that when my schedule completely freed up, they would let me participate! Happily when that time arrived, they welcomed me with open arms.
I love this group of women. Dynamic, smart, interesting, well-traveled, funny, they are all invested in researching and producing beautiful food! I leave these dinners feeling nourished both body and mind, looking forward to our next meeting. Our gatherings are irregular but always focused on a theme. Some themes have included Comfort Food, Middle Eastern/North African fare, Summer Salads, Thanksgiving recipe audition, Summer’s Bounty, Pies and most recently, Tapas.
For Tapas night, I offered to make dessert and found these Dulce de Leche sandwich cookies on a blog I follow, Joy the Baker. The original recipe came from Dorie Greenspan and uses store bought dulce de leche in the cookie batter and as the filling for the sandwich. Joy takes the flavor profile to a new level by adding a sprinkling of sea salt to the filling. Either way they were a nicely sized, sweet bite at the end of the meal. I found my dulce de leche at Whole Foods.
Enjoy and please refer to my Tips at the end of the recipe!
Recipe courtesy of Joy The Baker via Dorie Greenspan
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup store-bought dulce de leche, plus more for filling
- ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- 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 the flour, baking soda and salt.
- 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.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients all at once. 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 and this might be a bit messy. 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.
Tips from The Kitchen Scout
I like to chill my cookie dough a little bit before baking off the cookies. I find it easier to handle and results in a well shaped cookie. The recipe doesn’t exactly say this, but these are obviously meant to be sandwich cookies, so you spread one cookie’s interior with the dulce de leche and top it with another unadorned cookie. Think Oreo!
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[…] The combination of caramels and 1/3 cup evaporated milk yields about 1 1/3 – 1 1/2 cups liquid caramel to pour over the baked brownie layer. You could substitute a similar amount of ready made caramel sauce or even dulce de leche caramel to avoid the step of unwrapping the caramels. They would both be available in the baking aisle. The sauce is generally in a jar and the basic dulce de leche caramel is in a can. Read more about Dulce de Leche here… […]
[…] dinner group that I mentioned in Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies had its last meeting for the school year back in May. Our theme for the evening was […]