Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies with Dulce de Leche
These cookies need a milk chaser, and that’s a good thing. I prefer desserts that demand a cold glass of milk.
By that I mean, rich, dense and chocolatey. For me, there is definitely such a thing as “too sweet” — many commercially made desserts fit this category — but there is no chocolate “too rich.”
The cookies are bittersweet with subtle cinnamon and cayenne pepper. They’re okay on their own, but the dulce de leche adds a needed creaminess. I have had the recipe bookmarked for two years, but you shouldn’t wait anywhere near that long to make a version of these.
Chocolate and dulce de leche previously: Chocolate and Dulce de Leche Layer Cake and Chocolate Dulce de Leche Custard Puffs
Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies with Dulce de Leche
Adapted from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts and Cookie Madness. Cookie Madness thought to pair Heatter’s cookies with dulce de leche, but she put it in the center of the dough, sealed the edges and baked it together. I decided to pile the dulce de leche on after baking, as you would an Argentine alfajor. Also, I added baking soda to the dough and baked my cookies soft, not ‘extra crisp’ as Heatter says hers are.
- 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 3/4 cup quality unsweetened cocoa (I don’t know what the difference is, but the recipe calls for Dutch-process)
- 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup to 1 jar of dulce de leche (depending how much you want to use)
Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
In another bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, pepper, salt and baking soda).
Gradually add flour mixture to the first bowl. (If using an electric mixer, don’t overbeat.)
On a lightly floured surface, bring dough together in a roll, about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in wax paper and put it in the freezer so it can firm up before you try to cut it. Or keep it frozen until you’re ready to use it. (I baked one batch right away, and the rest of the dough is still waiting for me.)
Preheat oven to 350.
Cut dough into rounds 1/4-inch thick or thinner. Put them on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 5-7 minutes. (I decided I like the cookies even thinner than shown in that photo, and only cooked 5 minutes, so they just melt in your mouth. You can do up to 10 minutes if you want them crisp instead.)
Allow cookies to cool before spreading with dulce de leche. Then make sure you have milk on hand.
Category: Recipes | Tags: argentina, cayenne, chocolate, cinnamon, cookies, dessert, dulce de leche 17 comments »
November 7th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Some gorgeous goodies! You must either have a zillion brands of “Dulce de Leche” where you are, or the stores are expecting you to make your own. Which is it?
November 7th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
dulce de leche is a magic word to me…
November 7th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Danyel Smith and Angela Renee Coakley, Joe Blackmon. Joe Blackmon said: RT @danamo: I might have to make these: http://bit.ly/ZzWm3 Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies with Dulce de Leche (Praise Him for these!) [...]
November 7th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Marti — There are not many options for most things in Buenos Aires grocery stores, but there are several shelves of dulce de leche.
I’ve never made dulce de leche before, but I know it can be made by cooking sweetened condensed milk. Actually, I bet these cookies would be good spread with sweetened condensed milk, too, if you couldn’t find DDL or didn’t want to make it.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Just YUM! Lovely icebox cookies.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Anything with dulce de leche has me listening – these cookies look fabulous!
November 10th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
These look incredible…I think I could eat about 10 of them.
I just recently had alfajores and have been thinking about them ever since–I am definitely going to try these. Thank you!
November 12th, 2009 at 9:07 am
made these the other day and brought them into work… they were gone in about 20 minutes! thanks for sharing!
November 12th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Peggy — Happy to hear it! Hope you got enough for yourself first
November 13th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Yum
November 16th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
They look amazing and I can defintiely see that they need a milk chaser. They look like the kind that might stick to the roof of your mouth-in a good way of course!
November 26th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
these. look. fantastic.
I think Dulce De Leche secretly holds the key to my heart.
December 21st, 2009 at 9:36 pm
i can’t … i can’t look at that picture anymore. i’m sitting on my couch, drinking a glass of wine, waiting for some thai food and all i want to do is dive into that screen. if anything that will forever become a weekly part of my life b/c of my travels to argentina it will be dulce de leche. can
not
live
without
ever
again.
January 31st, 2010 at 8:44 pm
[...] my earlier post about Mexican Chocolate Cookies with Dulce de Leche didn’t convince you to make a batch of your own, then I’ll give you another reason. [...]
February 13th, 2010 at 4:36 am
These were so good! Probably the best cookies I’ve had. They have a rich chocolate flavor with a spicy surprise at the end of each bite.
I adapted them to be gluten free. Here is a link to the recipe: http://authenticfoods.com/recipes/item/42/Spicy-Chocolate-Cookies-with-Dulce-De-Leche
March 12th, 2010 at 11:21 am
I made these! they were amazing and i got tons of compliments. I also baked them for only 5 minutes so they were definitely melt-in-your-mouth texture… and used authentic dulce de leche (lucky to live in brooklyn) so rich and creamy with rich chocolate and a kick of spicy at the end yumm.
March 13th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Ani — Happy to hear it! Thanks for coming back and letting us know how they turned out