dulce de leche filled butter cookies

Well I know it's been a while since I've blogged, and it's been entirely circumstantial... now that I'm in my second trimester (yes, I'm pregnant with my second child!) I'm starting to feel a little better and food is actually tasting and smelling good again. So now I'm back with a stellar recipe that should be made in earnest.

Years ago when I subscribed (and they still printed) Gourmet Magazine, I ripped this recipe out and saved it. I had never tried dulce de leche before, but I was intrigued by how easy and delicious these cookies looked. The first time I made them (maybe 5 years ago?) I had found a jar of dulce de leche at William's Sonoma and served the cookies after a dinner party. We were all hooked by the thin, delicate cookies and the creamy dulce del leche...needless to say these cookies are special and stayed ingrained in my memory as something to repeat. Recently I was at Trader Joe's and found a jar of dulce de leche, which inspired me to make these cookies again and share them here!

The dough is not overly sweet, which allows for a generous filling of dulce de leche and dusting of confectioners' sugar. The cookies, by themselves, are simple and unassuming, but filled with the dulce de leche they soften and crumble into the filling becoming one glorious bite after another. My sister recently made this recipe but filled the cookies with Nutella (which were also incredible, although I still prefer the dulce de leche) but really any jam or nut butter would be great with these.

the $5 donut

Last week a friend of mine posted this video on Facebook and two days later, I was making these in my kitchen. Inspiration (and hunger) is everywhere!

My sister, Aubrey, came over to help me taste-test these fried bits o' heaven (no convincing needed) and we decided that if these were sold in a bakery, they'd charge at least $5. Here's why: 1. They're labor-intensive (start to finish was pushing 5 hours!) 2. The ingredients ain't cheap, and you need a lot of them and 3. Um, have you seen these? Each donut is comprised of 4 layers, resulting in a mouthwatering decadence unlike any donut you've ever had before. So yes, even though I realize that $5 is more than the price of an entire box of samoa cookies, one of these donuts is sooooo worth it.

As I was making these, I thought to myself, the Girl Scouts have been doing it wrong all these years. Who wants a dry, crispy cookie when you can have a soft, fresh donut that's loaded with some of the best flavor combinations ever to exist? I hope you're with me on this one. 

While I loved the concept of this donut, I did have a major issue with it. The coconut caramel mixture is thick and dries hard, plus it's thickly applied so you're forced to open your mouth wide. So, if you have TMJ (uh, present!) then your jaw will feel like it will crack from all that opening and chewing. Not good at all.

Since I loved all the elements to this donut I plan on making it again, just in a different way. Each recipe is wonderful on it's own- I really loved this raised donut recipe and will definitely use it again to make different donut variations. And the chocolate ganache was perfection, as was the toasted coconut and caramel.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Oh the obvious, delicious things you could drizzle this sauce over- ice cream, hot cocoa, cheesecake, your tongue… there are endless possibilities. Since it’s the holidays, this would make a fantastic present. In fact, that’s exactly what I did. Last year I poured this liquid gold into cute, little jars adorned with even cuter, littler labels and gifted it to my neighbors.

It also holds up to frequent microwaving amazingly well. But if you make this try to save some for a recipe that I’ll be sharing next week. It will blow your mind!

(recipe after the jump)