I have a confession to make.
It's hard for me to admit this.  It's almost embarrassing.
But, here it is.... I don't eat most of the things that I bake.
Wow, that was like a weight lifted off of me.  It's true.  I don't have a much of a sweet tooth anymore.  It's diminished significantly with age and I've gotten much pickier about what I actually put in my mouth.  The thing that I enjoy is making the stuff, not eating it.  It took me a long while to figure that out.  It occurred to me a long time ago that quite often once I had prepared a big meal that when I finally sat down to eat it I wasn't particularly interested anymore.  I would just as well preferred to sit down to some toast and natural peanut butter with honey on top.  Simple is what I like to eat but I think it's fun to make all the other stuff.
Fortunately, I have kids and friends who are very happy to eat the stuff for me.  Usually I at least taste what I've made, I mean just once.  Sometimes, sadly, I don't.  So I rely on Kid #1 ('cause Kid #2 cannot articulate any detail or nuance around food yet... only lego) and friends like KT to do that work for me.  It's a hard sell as you can imagine.  Here's the thing though, I really do want to taste these, I mean look at them.


Something this cute and squidgy needs to be eaten... although one hasn't quite made it into my mouth yet.

I really have wanted to make these cookies for an age but was really afraid to try the dulce de leche stuff which was dumb.  Why was it dumb??? A)  Because the dulce de leche was so ridiculously easy and B) Because these cookies are off the chain worth it.  I can't believe that cookies with no egg, no milk, not very much sugar (except the sweetened condensed milk in the middle - forgot about that for a second ;-) and very few ingredients could bake up so light and airy.  The texture is almost like a puff pastry... and then you've got this caramel stuff in the middle that's all oozy and sweet and beyond wonderful...  So, if you took my advice and threw a can or two of sweetened condensed milk into a simmering bath for a few hours and now you've got some of the stuff searching for a raison d'etre then Baby... this is your thing!


Dulce de Leche Cookies adapted from 'Martha Stewart's Cookies'
makes about 2 1/2 doz

2 cups all purpose flour
1/8 cup icing sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into large chunks
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon liner.
In a bowl, combine the flour and icing sugar.  Add in the chunks of room temperature butter.

My new pastry cutter!

Cut in the butter until it forms a crumbly texture.  Add in the water slowly, mixing continuously, until it forms a ball kind of shape.


Form the batter into to flat disc shapes and refrigerate for about an hour.
Roll each disc out on a lightly floured surface until it gets to about 1/4 inch thickness.  Using a round shape (I used something about 2 inches or so across) cut the cookies out and place on the cookie sheet.  Save unused dough, reform and cut out more... etc.
Bake for about 15 minutes, rotating in the middle of the baking time.
Remove from oven and cool the cookies completely on a cooling rack.


Place about 1 lg tsp of dulce de leche on the bottom of a disc and place a second disc on top until you've finished it all.
If you are not eating them all in one day (!) then store the cookies unfilled and fill as needed.  The cookies will last longer unfilled.