These luscious dulce de leche cookies are buttery shortbread thumbprint cookies filled with rich, silky milk caramel. They are guaranteed to be the superstar of any dessert table or cookie exchange.
Dulce de Leche Cookies
That I am crazy over dulce de leche is no surprise. I’ve been lucky enough to be given some pots of dulce de leche from visiting Argentinian friends over the years.
I recently discovered that legitimate Argentinian dulce de leche is available on Amazon.com. I also learned that you can purchase a version of it that is a little thicker for baking purposes. Well, hello Game Changer!
I have very little self control around an open jar of the gooey goodness, though, whether it’s regular or thicker! I find that I can slow my roll a little better when I incorporate it into recipes.
Dulce de Leche Ice Cream and the Dulce de Leche Chai Latte are some of my other favourite ways to use the scrumptious milk caramel. Just imagine, if you will, a plate of these salted caramel cookies and a hot cup of tea or coffee. I think these cookies are my new go-to.
Salted Caramel Cookie Recipe
This recipe yields either 12 or 24 cookies, depending on what size you decide to make them: 24 standard sized cookies, or 12 super indulgent, large cookies. If you opt for the standard sized cookie, the nutritional information refers to two cookies. If you make the large ones, a serving is one cookie.
Please do not refrigerate the cookie dough before forming and baking it. While a great many cookies are best when made that way, this particular recipe is not. The finished texture is much better and baking time is much more predictable this way.
Please also note that the baking time will be slightly different based on the size of cookie you choose to make. Smaller cookies will take about 15 minutes in a conventional (not convection!) bake cycle. Larger cookies will take closer to 18 minutes.
When the cookies come out of the oven, you’ll want to let them cool for at least 5 minutes on the pan before you shift them to a cooling rack. Once they’re on the rack, that is the moment to sprinkle a few flakes of sea salt (like Maldon) over the top if you like salted caramel! It’s totally optional, but completely divine!
Dulce de Leche Cookies
Rate RecipeEquipment
- cookie scoop
- mixing bowl
- hand mixer or stand mixer
- Silicone spatula
- parchment paper or Silpats
- 1 half sheet pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened to room temperature. 4 ounces or 1 stick.
- 1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar 1.5 ounces by weight or 41.67 grams
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 5 1/2 ounces by weight
- 1/2 teaspoon Maldon sea salt flakes optional but tasty
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
- Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. A half sheet pan can comfortably fit 12 large cookies.
- Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to beat butter until it’s light and fluffy. Add confectioner’s sugar and beat in until well incorporated, about 1 minute.
- Beat in one egg yolk until it is well mixed, then add the next and beat until even in colour. Beat in the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour and salt with a whisk. Add this to the butter mixture and use a silicone spatula to mix it together until no more dry pockets remain.
- Use a small cookie scoop to portion the dough then roll it gently to smooth the dough ball. Roll each ball in granulated sugar before positioning it on the prepared sheet pan.
- Use the back of a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon to gently flatten and create an indentation on top of each cookie ball. There should still be ample amounts of cookie around the outside edge to form a wall to hold in the dulce de leche.
- Fill a piping bag with dulce de leche and pipe it into the indentations until level with the top of the cookies or use two spoons to scrape about a teaspoon of caramel into the center indentation. Tap the pan gently on the counter a couple of times to help the dulce de leche settle and bring any air bubbles to the top. Bake for 15 minutes or until set and light brown at the edges. Cool for five minutes before transferring the cookies to a cooling rack. If desired, sprinkle a few Maldon sea salt flakes over the dulce de leche for a salted caramel cookie!Cool completely before serving.
- Refrigerate leftover cookies in a tightly closed container.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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