This recipe by Susan Butler was the 2018 winner at the annual Edible Houston Cookie Exchange. And now you can bake them at home! The champion cookie baker says, “This is one of those cookie recipes that takes on a better flavor and texture the day after baking.”
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar plus ¼ cup for dusting after baking
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup dulce de leche, recipe below
- 1 can condensed milk (Borden)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Salt
Preparation
Place flour and sugar and salt in stand mixer and combine. Add cold butter cut in small cubes, about ½-inch square, 1 at a time and incorporate until dough is blended together, adding the vanilla about midway of adding the cold butter. Roll out dough between parchment paper ⅛ inch thick and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Longer refrigeration will add to the flavor. Overnight is very good.
Dulce de Leche
Pour the condensed milk into a Pyrex dish. Prepare a hot water bath: Place the dish in a larger baking pan, leaving at least an inch around all sides of Pyrex dish, and fill the outer pan with hot water. Water should come up about an inch in outer pan. Cover entire outer pan and Pyrex pan with foil and bake at 425°F for 2½ hours. Remove from oven and carefully remove foil (steam will escape) and sprinkle salt lightly on top. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla and beat with wire whisk in the Pyrex dish until real creamy. Cool and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Cut out with circles about 1 to 1½ inches with a cookie cutter and bake on parchment paper at 350°F for approximately 10 minutes. Cool and place small amount of dulce de leche on 1 side of cookie, top with another cookie and dust confectioners’ sugar on both sides.
