Tuesday, March 23, 2010

TWD - Dulce de Leche Duos


Judging by the number of people who mainline dulce de leche, it's a popular thing. I haven't been successful finding it in the jar at my grocery stores and since it's made by boiling unopened cans of sweetened condensed milk, I was a little scared to make this one. But I found Alton Brown's recipe and made it without boiling any cans and with a minimum of drama. You can read about it here. Just to prove to you that I am a bit strange, I didn't looove it. It was nice, tasty, good, but I'll take homemade caramel any day.

These cookies, selected by Jody of Beansy Loves Cake, were fast, easy and a bit of a sticky mess to make. They call for 3/4 of a cup of dulce de leche plus extra to sandwich them together (hence the "duo" part of their name). Given my ambivalence about dulce de leche, I threw together Dorie's ganache recipe (also found in Baking From My Home to Yours) and filled half of them with ganache (chocolate makes everything better) and half with dulce de leche.

Both were embraced warmly and each had its own fans, but I thought the ganache added a nice counterpoint to the dulce de leche wafers. All in all, this one was good but not a recipe I'll make over and over.

If dulce de leche makes your heart sing, head over to Jodie's as she'll have the recipe.

36 comments:

Julie said...

These look yummy. I love sandwich cookies. I need to try Alton's recipe.

Teanna DiMicco said...

Oooh I wish I tried these with the ganache! Yours look great!

Deeva said...

MMMMMM chocolate, looks yummy

Valerie Gamine said...

That ganache looks so good oozing out of your cookies! Nicely done. I

Bella Baker said...

I bet the ones with ganache were amazing! Sorry they weren't your fave! They look great!

Pamela said...

I only had one with the ganache in the middle, and it was my favorite one! It was delicious. I have to go check out your post on making the dulce de leche. I agree...I'll take home made caramel any time!

Mary said...

They look nice with the ganache in the middle! Why did everyone else get nice flat cookies and I got rock cakes? Guess if I want flat I'll have to go back to Dorie's CCC recipe. Not a chance!
I'm with you on the dulce de leche--I like it, but there's been a jar in my fridge for at least a year, and it just doesn't call to me the way most other sweet things do.

CB said...

What's Alton Brown's method? I did the crockpot method and now I'm intrigued to try David Lebovitz method next. Bummer you weren't a fan but I'm glad you baked with us this week nonetheless.
-CB
http://iheartfood4thought.com

Anonymous said...

Ganache... I'll have to try that - you've made it look so enticing. I saw AB's method while browsing the Internet, I'll have to re-seek that out! Glad you enjoyed them - they were quite a favorite!

mike
TWD blog:
web.me.com/mikejdunlap

Katrina said...

I just sandwiched a few with some Nutella today and thought it much better than the ddl. I actually didn't realize until these cookies were chosen that ddl and caramel aren't really the same thing. And I, too, love caramel. I think it's a salt issue or something.

natalia said...

Ciao ! i love your tower !!

Welcome to our crazy blessed life said...

mmmm! I bet the ganache was delish in these! :)

Hanaâ said...

They sure look delicious. The ganache filling sounds pretty good too.

chocolatechic said...

I'm sorry that these weren't exactly what you liked, but they sure look good.

Jennifer said...

Your cookies look AMAZING! Sorry that they weren't your favorites!

Cakelaw said...

Your cookies look great. Dulce de leche makes my heart sing so Iwill make these again - loved them!

Heather said...

What a lovely golden hue these cookies have - great job!

Paula said...

If you are strange because you don't looooove DdL, then so am I! These weren't my favorites either.

Mimi said...

I tried Alton Recipe after I saw it on your blog and the P&Q, I thought it was fantastic. I really don't like the DDL that I purchased in the past. I liked the cookies, but it felt like somthing was missing.
Mimi

Amber Marie said...

Boiling the can also frightened me - I could just see it exploding in my face! So I used the double boiler method, with mixed results. I loved these though, and the chocolate looks yum!

Di said...

I still have some cookies that I haven't sandwiched, so I may have to try a couple with chocolate. I'm not a fan of overly sweet things, so what made the dulce de leche work for me was adding salt. Huge difference.

ARUNA said...

wow they look sooo yummy!!!

Susan said...

Your cookies look fabulous Leslie! I am going to try and fit these in tomorrow. I may have to make some ganache to go with the dulce de leche. :)

Unknown said...

You're not alone Leslie - the DDL didn't thrill me either. I loved the cookies on their own, but the sandwiches were way too sweet. I bet ganache instead would have been nice!

margot said...

Ganache is always a good idea, the cookies look yummy. It's funny, when TWD has a difficult ingredient to find, I usually feel lucky that we get off pretty easy living in the Bay Area, where there are tons of specialty items available, but no luck with DDL. At least it's easy to make your own.

Nickki said...

Your cookies look delicious! I felt the same way, I enjoyed the cookies and I'm really glad I tried them, but I wouldn't rush to make them again.

Marthe said...

Guess I'm going to have to try them with ganache, I found them to be too sweet with the dulce de leche filling.

Amanda said...

They look wonderful!! I had to do a rewind this week, didn't have the ingredients. Still want to make them though!

spike. said...

I like the sound of chocolate in these. I do like dulce de leche but I'll take some good salted caramel over it anyday.

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

Mmmm, ganache. :) I'll have to try them that way next!

Shari said...

These are beautiful. And more important, I'm sure they are delicious!!

Piggy said...

Great idea to use chocolate ganache as filling! Will give it a try if I were to bake these cookies again.

TeaLady said...

Sorry these weren't your cookie. They look delicious.

I've made dulce for years by boiling on the stove. Glad to have found the crockpot method. MUCH safer.

They look delicious.

Liz said...

I'm with you--everything is improved with a little chocolate!

Diana's Cocina said...

They look wonderful! Sorry you didn't like them :(

Kayte said...

I wondered if you would like this one as you are not one to love overly sweet things, and I thought these were overly sweet. I had one and that was quite enough, no desire to go back for another as it was just so sweet...and filling! Yours look lovely all stacked up like that!