My, what a gloomy day. The off-and-on pouring rain is something else. (Whenever it increases to a heavy roar, and then stays at that level, I’m reminded of Hurricane Mitch — how the rain thundered on the tile roof of our little adobe house in northern Nicaragua for four days straight, so steady and oppressive, so loud.) But hey, it’s Friday and I’ve got cookies, so cheer up, folks!
These are immediate must-make cookies. I came across the recipe one day and made them the next — a double batch. (I had a feeling.) That same afternoon, I sent some over to my parents with my daughter, and then my mother called me with her mouth still full. What are these? They’re amazing! Send me the recipe.
This morning I had one with my coffee. My husband had one, too. And then he had another.
Now, mid-morning, the cake plate has been emptied [brushes crumbs from lips] and restocked with the cookies I’d foolishly thought I would squirrel away in the freezer.
I made mine with red raspberry jam but I think fruit preserves (thick jam sauce made without the addition of pectin and often with slightly less sugar, like in this red raspberry sauce) might be even better. How about fig? Black raspberry? Spiced apple pie filling? A berry blend? You get the idea.
I strongly recommend doubling the recipe.
for the cookie: ½ cup butter ¼ cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar 1 egg yolk ½ teaspoon vanilla 1 cup flour ¼ teaspoon salt
Cream the butter and sugars. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla. Mix in the flour and salt.
for the crumble: ¼ cup oats, any kind ¼ cup flour ¼ cup pecans ¼ cup coconut ¼ cup brown sugar pinch of salt 3 tablespoons butter
Put all the ingredients in the food processor and pulse until crumbly.
to assemble: the butter dough the crumb topping ½ cup jam
Divide the butter dough into 12 balls. Place each ball in a well-greased muffin tin and press it down in the center with your fingers; the “dip” needs to be large enough to hold at least 1 teaspoon of jam.
Fill the “dips” with jam and generously spoon the crumbs on the outside edges of the cookies, leaving a space in the center for the jam to peak through. Really pile it on.
Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Let them cool for 10-20 minutes before running a knife around the edge and carefully coaxing each cookie from its cup.
These store well at room temperature, and they can be frozen as well (but don’t bother).
No, no, I don’t mean the hack version that involves sticking a can of sweetened condensed milk in a crock pot for a few hours. I’m talking about real dulce de leche from real milk that you got from the real cow that lives in your backyard.
I made dulce de leche for the first time a few days ago, and then I made it twice more — the first time because I wanted to try it with white sugar instead of raw cane sugar, and the second time so I could photograph it for you. And this weekend I’m going to make it again so I can film it for YouTube because this stuff rocks and everyone needs to know about it, especially with Christmas coming up and all.
I mean, seriously. Think about it. A whole bunch of little jars of sweetness for all the teachers/neighbors/random service professionals in your life? BOOM. (That’s the sound of you nailing it.)
Also, consider this. Dulce de leche makes for a great cookie add-in and it’s a pretty darn knockout addition to hot boozy drinks.
Sold? Good. Let’s get to it.
Put milk, sugar, and baking soda in a kettle and cook until thick.
thickening
thicker
THICK
Add vanilla and salt.
Pour it into a jar.
The end.
Okay, okay, so that’s not the end end — I’ve always got more to say — but it is that easy, no joke.
made with raw sugar, with white sugar, and rum-spiked
If you cook dulce de leche a little too long and it happens to get so stiff that you can’t even wrestle it out of the jar, congratulations! You just made milk caramels! Simply pop the jar into the microwave for 20 seconds to soften enough so you can dig out a scoop and then roll-press the glob into balls or squares, sprinkle with crunchy salt, and wrap in parchment paper. (If you have better self-control than me and don’t just pop it directly into your mouth, that is.)
To booze it up: heat the dulce until it’s stir-able, add the spirit of your choice, and mix to combine. Spiked dulce is yummy drizzled over ice cream or added to lattes or hot cocoa. (Eaten plain, I’ve noticed that chilled, spiked dulce is a little grainy — not sure why.)
the white sugar version, and so stiff (when chilled) I could barely chop it out with a knife
Need more ideas for dulce de leche? Well!
When making an apple crisp, dollop globs of it all over the cut, spiced-n-sugared apples before topping with the oat crumbs and baking. The dulce creates wonderful little pockets of chewy caramelness.
apple crisp with craters of dulce
You can add dulce to fruit pie filling, or drizzle warmed dulce over slices of apple pie, or sandwich the dulce between butter cookies, like the South American alfajores. Eat it with hard pretzels and apple slices. Sprinkle it with crunchy salt and eat it straight from the jar.
browned butter shortbread with dulce de leche, coconut, chocolate, bacon, and pecans
And then there’s the whole world of dulce de leche inspired ganaches, ice creams, pies (banana cream has jumped to the top of my to-make line), cheesecakes, and caramel-cobbled brownies that I haven’t even begun to explore.
Raw sugar makes a dark-golden dulce, and it has a more robust (better) flavor, I think. White sugar works just fine, though. Haven’t tried brown. Wondering if swapping in a little honey might be a fun variation?Try it and tell me.
The milk can be raw or store-bought, whole or skim.
The degree to which the dulce is cooked is entirely the cook’s preference. The dulces in the photos above are pretty thick. If you want a more syrupy dulce, remove it from the heat sooner.
Recipes for actual milk caramels often call for the addition of corn syrup.
1 liter (4¼ cups) milk 1¼ cups raw cane sugar ¼ teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon vanilla ¼ teaspoon salt crunchy salt like Maldon for serving, optional
Combine the milk, sugar, and baking soda in a kettle. The milk will rise considerably, so pick a kettle with high sides. Heat the milk until boiling, reduce the heat, keeping the milk at a manageable rolling boil (“manageable” = without the constant threat of overflow) and stirring occasionally. (Note: dulce de leche doesn’t burn nearly as quickly as one might imagine, but I like to stay close anyway. This morning I read a book while stirring my burbling pot of delicious sweetness. There are worse ways to spend one’s time.)
Once the milk reduces and thickens, stir steadily. Markers to look for to tell if it’s getting done: the bubbles are less frothy and move more slowly. A spoon leaves a trail behind it in which you can see the bottom of the kettle. The mixture starts to get some dry spots in it, like scabs (sorry) or bubbly patches. If you want, drop some of the dulce on a cold plate to test the true consistency.
Towards the end, I’ve noticed that little lumps form in the dulce and it’s not all the way creamy-smooth. I’ve stirred it extra hard, but that hasn’t seemed to help much. It might not matter, though, since the lumps have always disappeared after chilling. Don’t worry about it too much.
Call it quits whenever the dulce reaches the consistency you want. Thin and syrupy for pouring into coffee or eating on waffles? More like a thick glaze for drizzling over cake or ice cream? Lightly spoonable for a dip-able treat? Stiff for individual milk caramels? Remember that the dulce will thicken considerably in the fridge. (I think I’ve been cooking mine a few steps beyond the ideal dulce de leche stage but I keep doing it anyway because I like it.)
Store the dulce in a jar in the fridge. It should last for weeks and weeks, if not months and months. One batch yields 1½ to 2-plus cups, depending on how much it was reduced.
