I am always up for a buttery cookie, especially when it's filled with dulce de leche! This recipe for Dulce de Leche Cookies makes soft, buttery shortbread cookies sandwiched together with a creamy caramel filling.
If you love trying out different cookie recipes, you have to see more of my Easy Cookie and Biscuit Recipes for inspiration!
Why This Dulce de Leche Cookie Recipe Works
- Recipe name: Dulce de Leche Cookies
- Ready in: 1 hr 45 minutes (includes chilling time)
- Serves: 25 sandwich cookies
- Main ingredients: Dulce de leche caramel, butter, flour, eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and icing sugar.
- Perfect for: Afternoon tea, a delicious treat after a meal with coffee, your daily sweet treat from the cookie jar.
- Why I love it: These moreish caramel-filled dulce de leche cookies are really easy to make. This biscuit recipe is one of my favourites. It's perfect for all kinds of sandwich cookie recipes, so make sure you nail it! This recipe also holds its shape during baking, making these cookies perfect for decorating.
- Calories: 129kcal
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If you love caramel flavours, try making your own homemade salted caramel and using it in this recipe for Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes or this recipe for Salted Caramel Vanilla Layer Cake.
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Key Ingredients
- Castor sugar - Use castor sugar or superfine sugar for this recipe
- Cake flour - Use cake flour or all-purpose flour to make these cookies.
- Dulce de Leche- I have chosen to use a tin of store-bought dulce de leche. You can do the same, or make your own by boiling a tin of condensed milk.
- Icing sugar - Powdered sugar is needed to dust the cookies.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
If you are thinking about making these cookies with other fillings, try them with jam or chocolate spread! This Raspberry Cupcake Filling, this Spiced Cherry Jam, this Clementine Marmalade, or this Blackberry Compote would make delicious fillings!
These cookies would also be delicious filled with Easy Buttercream Frostings. Either the Nutella Buttercream or the Passionfruit Buttercream would work beautifully. For a cookie with piped vanilla frosting, these Vanilla Buttercream Cookies are a winner.
How to Make Dulce de Leche Cookies
- Step 1: Add the butter and sugar to a food processor and pulse until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Step 2: First, add the whole egg to the creamed mixture while the food processor is running, and pulse until combined. Then add the egg yolk and vanilla and pulse again.
- Step 3: Sift together the flour and salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg and butter mixture all at once. Pulse until a dough forms; do not overmix.
- Step 4: Remove the dough from the bowl, cover it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 40 minutes to an hour.
- Step 5: Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) and line two large baking trays with parchment paper. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll it out on a floured work surface to a thickness of ½ cm ( ¼ inch) using a rolling pin. Using a round 7cm (3-inch) cookie cutter, cut 50 circles from the dough. Place the cookies onto an oven tray lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven for 12 minutes or until they are a light golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on a cooling rack.
- Step 6: Place the dulce de leche in a mixing bowl and, if needed, loosen it slightly with a fork. Fill a piping bag fitted with your chosen nozzle with the dulce de leche. Pipe swirls of caramel onto 25 cookies, then place the remaining plain cookies on top. Dust with icing sugar, serve, and enjoy!
How to Roll Cookie Dough so That it Doesn't Stick
Chilled dough that has firmed up is much easier to roll than warm dough, which tends to stick to the counter! Lightly dust the dough and the countertop with flour before you begin rolling, and flip the dough often to prevent sticking. If rolling dough isn't your thing, try these slice-and-bake Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies or these easy Chunky Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Storage
After baking and filling the cookies, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days. Unfilled cookies can be kept in an airtight container for up to one week; crisp them in the oven before filling.
Expert Tips
- Allow the dough to rest for easy rolling. If you are struggling to roll out the dough, place it back in the fridge to firm up.
- Cookies burn very quickly, so ensure you have tested your oven's true temperature with an oven thermometer before baking.
- Be sure to space out your cookies on the cookie sheet so that they bake separately.
- Choose to bake each tray of cookies separately rather than in the same oven on different racks.
- Only fill the cookies once they have cooled completely on a wire rack.
Dulce de Leche Cookies FAQs
This happens if the oven is too hot. Make sure you have tested the oven's actual temperature with an oven thermometer. Also, bake the cookie trays separately.
The dough may be sticking to your countertop if it is too warm. Place it back into the fridge to firm up. Also, ensure you dust the counter and the dough with enough flour.
The cookie dough can be frozen before baking. Cover the dough in plastic wrap and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Bake the cookies at a later date. Thaw the dough in the fridge overnight before rolling and baking. Baked cookies can also be frozen; fill them when you are ready to serve.
To make homemade dulce de leche, submerge a sealed tin of sweetened condensed milk in a large pot of boiling water over high heat. It should take 2 to 3 hours to boil into dulce de leche. Make sure you are topping up the water as it evaporates. There must be enough water to cover the tin at all times. Once the caramel is done, allow it to cool completely. If you have any left over, try making this Dulce de Leche Frosting!
Dulce de leche cookies are a type of caramel cookie made using dulce de leche, which is richer and creamier than standard caramel.
More Sandwich Cookie Recipes
If you're planning on serving these buttery dulce de leche cookies as part of a dessert spread at your next celebration, then you should make this Caramel Churro Layer Cake and these Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cupcakes to serve alongside these cookies!
Happy Baking, With Love, Kitty
Please leave a star rating and comment below if you tried this recipe! And if you're wondering what to try next, have a look at these Vanilla Cupcakes without Butter!
📖 Recipe
Dulce de Leche Cookies
Equipment
- 2x large cookie trays
Ingredients
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 100 g superfine sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 350 g cake flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tin dulce de leche
Instructions
- Add the butter and sugar to a food processor. Pulse at medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
- First, add the whole egg to the creamed mixture with the food processor running, and beat until combined. Then add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat again.
- Sift together the flour and salt and add this flour mixture to the egg and butter mixture all at once. Pulse until a dough forms, do not overmix.
- Remove the dough from the bowl, cover it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 40 minutes to an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) and line two large baking trays with parchment paper.
- Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll it out on a floured work surface to a thickness of ½ cm ( ¼ inch) using a rolling pin.
- Cut 50 circles from the dough using a round 7cm (3-inch) cookie cutter. Place the cookies onto an oven tray lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven for 12 minutes or until the cookies are a light golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on a cooling rack.
- Place the dulce de leche into a mixing bowl and loosen it slightly with a fork. Fill a piping bag fitted with your chosen nozzle with the dulce de leche. Pipe swirls of the caramel onto 25 cookies, then place the remaining plain cookies on top. Dust with icing sugar, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
- The dough may be sticking to your countertop if it is too warm. Place it back into the fridge to firm up. Also, ensure you dust the counter and the dough with enough flour.
- If your cookies are browning too quickly on the bottom and look uncooked on the top, your oevn is too hot.
Julia says
This is my new favourite cookie recipe, so delicious thank you!