Dulce de Leche Duos

From Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours, she had a recipe for dulce de leche cookies and I just had to make them. I made my own dulce de leche (peeled off label from a can of sweetened condensed milk, put two tiny holes on top, put it in a sauce pan and made sure it was constantly filled with water 2/3 way up and let it cooked for about 3 hours), but the store bought stuff worked just as well and is way faster.

The recipe is a little time consuming because the cookies are small and you have to spread dulce de leche on each one to make a sandwich. I used a teaspoon to drop my cookies, but someone had suggest pipping them- just make sure you don't go much bigger than a teaspoon because the cookie does spread and when they are too big, they are a little too crispy.

It is rare that I eat a lot of my own baked goods, but these were so delicious that I must have eaten a good amount of them myself before sharing. They were so good that I made them twice that week and everyone LOVED them. I highly suggest these!

Dulce de Leche Duos
by Dorie Greenspan from Baking From My Home to Yours

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cups dulce de leche, plus more for filling
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until soft. Add the 3/4 cup of dulce de leche and both sugars and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Don't be concerned if the mixture looks a little curdled- it will smooth out when the flour mixture goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into
the batter.
Spoon the dough onto the baking sheets, using a heaping teaspoon of dough for each cookie and leaving 2 inches between them.
Bake the cookies 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front the back at the midway point. The cookies should be honey brown with a light sugar crust, but they will still be soft, so remove the sheets from the oven but don't touch the cookies for another minute or two. Then, using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature.
Repeat with the remaining dough, making sure you cool the baking sheets before spooning the dough onto them.
When the cookies are completely cool, spread the flat bottoms of half the cookies with a small amount of dulce de leche, and sandwich with the flat sides of the remaining cookies.
Makes about 30 sandwich cookies