This post was created as in partnership with Imperial Sugar. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.
These Dulce de Leche Stuffed Cookies are made with a wonderful brown sugar cookie dough and stuffed with creamy, sweet dulce de leche caramel inside. You’ll find yourself craving them as soon as they are gone!
Dulce de Leche Stuffed Cookies
When I’m doing recipe testing for a new recipe, I will often make a recipe three or four times (sometimes more) before I get it where I like it. Which sometimes means I end up with lots and lots of treats that we definitely should not eat all on our own. So I share with friends or send stuff to work with Paul so I’m not tempted by it, which was definitely the case with these dulce de leche stuffed cookies.
I took a big plate of these cookies to a get-together recently and they were sort of overlooked at first. Until a couple of people started trying them, that is. Then the buzz started and people kept going back for more until they were gone.
It’s been a few weeks since I shared them, and I’m still getting requests for the recipe from people who were there, so I knew it was time to finally get it up on the blog.
I’ll admit that these cookies don’t look like all that much when they come out of the oven. They are deceptively plain looking, with no fancy mix-ins or anything on top to adorn them or give a hint that they are stuffed with gooey, molten dulce de leche inside.
Which makes the experience of biting into them all that much sweeter. The edges of the cookie are wonderfully crisp, while the middle is a surprise with soft dulce de leche caramel inside. It’s really hard to resist going back for a second, and third….
These cookies are for anybody who is a fan of dulce de leche. Which I most certainly am. And if you are not, I recommend you try these cookies and then reconsider your position.
What is Dulce de Leche?
Have you ever made dulce de leche before? You can make dulce de leche easily yourself by simmering cans of sweetened condensed milk for a few hours. That’s all dulce de leche is! Just sweetened milk that has been cooked very low and slow for a long time until it caramelizes. Dulce de leche translates to “sweet of milk”.
You can also just pick some up already made for you in the store, which is what I typically do because frankly, it’s easier than tending a big pot of simmering water with cans of sweetened condensed milk for hours and then waiting for them to cool.
Is there a difference between caramel and dulce de leche?
Yes, I can tell a difference between caramel and dulce de leche and I think a lot of people can. I think of dulce de leche as more mellow and creamier than caramel. To me, dulce de leche is kind of on the spectrum between butterscotch and caramel, falling somewhere in the middle. Best of both worlds, right?
How to Make Dulce de Leche Stuffed Cookies
These cookies are super simple to make, with one tricky step to getting the dulce de leche to stay stuffed in the middle rather than oozing out the sides while the cookies bake. You can click HERE to get the full recipe.
It starts with an easy brown sugar cookie dough that is delicious all on it’s own. But then you want to scoop small balls of dough out and use your finger or the back of a teaspoon to create an indentation in the top of each ball of dough. This gives you a space to fill with the dulce de leche.
Spoon a little dulce de leche into each little cookie dough cup, then create more balls of cookie dough and indent them as well to create caps for each cookie. Stick a cap on top of the dulce de leche filled cups and press to seal the edges, then bake!
The cookies will flatten out quite a bit as the dulce de leche melts, so be sure to give them room to spread and don’t make the cookies too big.
Be sure to give these cookies a try! I think you’re going to love them!
More Dulce de Leche Recipes to Try
- Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Parfaits from The Food Charlatan
- Homemade Dulce de Leche Pudding from Chipa by the Dozen
- Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cake from Liv for Cake
More Recipes for Caramel Lovers
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Dulce de Leche Stuffed Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup salted butter divided
- 1 1/2 cups (300g) light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups (317g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup dulce de leche
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan, melt ½ cup butter over medium-high heat. Cook and stir for about 3 minutes until butter has browned, then transfer to a mixing bowl and add remaining butter. Stir until melted, then set aside to cool for 10 minutes.¾ cup salted butter
- Add brown sugar to the cooled butter. Mix until combined. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well.1 ½ cups (300g) light brown sugar, 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix just until combined. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.2 ¼ cups (317g) all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- Scoop 1 tablespoon of cookie dough and shape into a small ball. Place on baking sheets, 3 inches apart, and form an indentation in the top with a finger or backside of a measuring spoon.
- Fill each indentation with a small amount of dulce de leche, about ½ teaspoon.½ cup dulce de leche
- Shape another tablespoon of cookie dough into a ball and press an indentation in it as well, then turn it over and use it to cover the dulce de leche, pinching the edges together to seal dulce de leche inside. Repeat until all dough has been used.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes until barely golden brown, then remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack.
I was really excited for this recipe, but unfortunately it was not very successful. This cookie recipe was okay. I didn’t loooove it, but it wasn’t terrible. The first 9 cookies I made came out perfectly uniform. But the next 9 we’re way more spread out, I think it’s important to chill the dough for way longer than an hour because just the 10 minutes of being out made the second tray of cookies to be too soft when going into the oven. The third tray of cookies was a complete disaster. I did like the taste of the second tray of cookies more though, tasted more soft and chewy than cakey like the very first cookies.
My advice to anyone making these cookies is to really make sure your dough is super chilled before making these cookies. That might get better results, I am frustrated that that was not more emphasized because I was making these for my moms birthday and out of a whole batch only 9 look decent to share…