The last time I went grocery shopping I happened to stumble across something wonderful…dulce de leche. It can be found fairly easily, but I had never seen it at any of my grocery stores until recently.
I had had it for the first time a few years ago when I was in Mexico. It was in the candy form and they called it cajeta.
For those of you who have had dulce de leche, you already know how amazing it is. If you haven’t had it before, run to your closest store and look for a can!
I found this in the ethnic foods isle. Dulce de leche is a caramel candy and spread. It can either be bought like this, or you can make it yourself!
If you are at all interested in taking that path, check out this post by David Lebovitz. And be careful!
Dulce de leche is one of those things that once you start eating it you can’t stop. It’s thick, creamy, sweet, and totally addicting.
All of those things made me want to do something completely opposite of that with it. And I found this delicious recipe that uses a shortbread cookie base. I highly recommend it!
Dulce de Leche Shortbread Cookies
Recipe adapted from thevillagecook.com
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 sticks cold butter cut into small pieces (if you use unsalted butter add a little salt to your dough when you are mixing!)
- 2 cups organic flour
- 1/2 cup organic sugar
- 1 TSP vanilla
To Make the Shortbread:
- Using your fingers, combine all the ingredients to make a uniform dough. If it seems a little dry (like mine was) add in a TSP of cold water until it is the correct dough consistency.
- Roll out to 1/2 inch thickness – I was in a place with no rolling pin when I was making these so I used a wine bottle, it works really well if you are in a pinch!
- Cut them into circles – I used a shot glass and that was actually the perfect size! They were either 1 big bite or 2 little ones, just enough at one time.
- Don’t forget to keep using your scraps to make more cookies.
- Bake the cookies at 350º F for 10-15 minutes on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Let them cool completely before spreading with (about) 1 TBSP of the dulce de leche.
On the original recipe, they were sprinkled with pink himalaya salt….I didn’t have any of that so I just sprinkled them with a few sea salt granules. *Don’t skip the salt!!
This is a great, basic shortbread recipe that can be used for a variety of recipes. It’s so sinfully easy and delicious, you are going to want to make shortbread all the time.
About bigfatbaker
Wow these look amazing! I love dulce de leche….soooo addictive
I am so impressed with your website and your baking creations! I haven’t tried any of the recipes YET but this one sounds and looks wonderful!
Thanks! This is probably the easiest recipe I have ever made. And shortbread cookies are delicious with almost anything.
i always make dulce de leche at home. i give it as a gift in its raw state
now that you made dulce de leche shortbread cookies and posted the recipe for it, i might make these and give them cookies instead 
I bet homemade dulce de leche is to die for. And I think you should definitely give these as a present, everyone will love them!