Dulce de leche bought from the shops is good, but the stuff you make yourself is even better. This silky South American treat is made by cooking sweetened condensed milk at a very low temperature for many hours. This simple process of heating sweetened milk will change you life. You can use it as a filling between two cakes, dollop it over ice-cream, swirl it through whipped cream, eat it straight from the jar…
My favourite way of using home-made dulce de leche – aside from the aforementioned jar method – is to sandwich it between cookies. It takes your biscuit game from wow to WOAH.
Be aware that creating the sauce is a slow burn. Not literally – you don’t want it to burn – but it will take eight hours. If you’re clever you’ll do it overnight and wake up to the promise of sweet, sweet caramalised sauce later in the day.
The contract between the crunch of the cookie and the soft, supple sensation of the dulce de leche is what good food is all about.
An added bonus about this recipe – you can make these lush, buttery cookies and serve them as is. No need to do the whole dulce de leche thing if you don’t want. I won’t judge.
Being the ultimate Donna Hay fan girl I used her cookie recipe and as always it was perfection. I cut my cookies with a fluted cutter for a pretty look.
GATHER:
170g unsalted butter, softened and diced
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 teaspoons honey
2¼ cups plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180°C and line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer until pale – this should take around five minutes.
Add the egg and honey and beat until combined.
Sift over the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and beat on low speed until a dough forms – do not over-beat.
Flatten into 2 discs, wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for half an hour.
Roll dough between two sheets of non-stick baking paper until 5mm thick and use a cutter to cut rounds from the dough, re-rolling as necessary.
Place on baking trays and bake for 5-9 minutes or until the edges are golden and centres are still a little soft. Cool on wire racks.
When completely cold spread dulce de leche on half the biscuits then sandwich with the remaining biscuits.
dulce de leche: Place the unopened tin of sweetened condensed milk in a slow cooker, fill slow cooker with water, ensuring the tin is completely submerged, and cook on low for eight hours. You may need to top the water up a few times. Remove from water with tongs (the tin will be super hot) and allow to cool for a few hours before opening. Once opened place in a sealed container in the fridge.
the hungry mum 
OMG, it is dangerous to read your blog before dinner. I started to starve. 🙂
ooops, sorry 🙂
I thought the ‘dulce de leche’ was going to be a marathon cooking experience. Putting a can into water and slow cook – now that’s not so hard!
BTW… your images are wonderful, and the biscuits look to die for.. 😉
ha ha ha! I don’t do marathon anything – not the baking version and certainly not the epic running thing 🙂 This is the easiest baking hack you will ever see.
Looks easy and yummy!
I really love these bickies. So fast and good.
Wow Hungry Mum – these caught my eye, could just imagine they go down a treat with a cup of coffee or tea….
they were 100 per cent amazing, I must say. Make them Laura! You won’t regret it 🙂
Very enticing treat!
You are correct 😉
Oh so lovely, delicious….tempting.
thank you! They’d be a snap for you to make x
And here I am with a cup of tea and no cookie! I’d love one of these 😀
That is outrageous! I would have imagined your home to have overflowing bickie tins full of home-baked yummies 🙂
Oh, these look so tasty I think I could enjoy them for breakfast.
wow, you must have a sweet tooth! Hope you get a chance to make them 🙂
these look and sound very posh! I’d love to make them! I’d like to eat them more though 🙂
They are a bit posh but they are so simple to make, so that’s a win 🙂
These cookies look amazing! How unique!
thanks Antonia, they were super yummy.
Looks delicious. Bet it is hard to stop at just one.
Umm, were you spying on me as I ‘tested’ this recipe?! #greedy
Lovely cookies, Mum and I can’t even imagine how good they are with that Dulce de Leche!! Yum!
These cookies are my kinda bickie – buttery, crisp and not overly complicated. Team them with the dulce de leche and wowzers!
The look absolutely delicious ❤
Wish I could say there were some left, they were delectable #allGone
I’ve never made dulce de leche being fearful of having a can explode in my kitchen. So, when I read that it would take 8 hours to prepare it, I thought there’s no way I’d leave something on the stove for that long. Then I saw that you used a slow cooker. Yours is the first recipe I’ve seen that does so. Now this I will try. In fact, I am so looking forward to it. Thank you!
Trust me, I am such a scardy cat when it comes to things like this. For instance, I am jut as likely to swim the English Channel as I am to deep fry anything. Keep the heat on low, top up the water and you’ll be rewarded with a gorgeous concoction.
Thanks, I really am going to try this. Right now, my slow cooker insert is chilling on the back porch filled with a corned beef and cabbage. That won’t last forever. (Please don’t let it last forever!) 🙂
I’m definitely making these.. Or buying the Häagen Däas ice cream!!
Make them! You won’t regret it 🙂
I don’t think I will!
Yum, those cookies look amazing!
they were so lush! I might have to make them again very soon.
Putting an unopened can of condensed milk in a slow cooker sounds quite dangerous!! Eck! Your cookies look so good though it would be worth it!!
I have done it many, many times with no incident at all. As I say in the recipe, keep it on low and top up the water.
Cooking sweetened condensed milk at a very low temperature for many hours…. DROOOOOOOL! 🙂 I have discovered I must be eating, or just eaten when visiting your blog, I make irrational purchases if i dont. 🙂
I am like a sugar pusher… you know you want it. Here, just a little bit won’t hurt. Just take the edge off, baby 😉