Have you ever found a cookie recipe that sounds so good that you decide on the spot not only to make them immediately, but to double the recipe? That’s the position I found myself in when I found this recipe from One Girl Cookies.
Here’s the breakdown. The cookies are a soft, light, chewy shortbread packed with nuts and flavored with our good friend cream cheese. While the original recipe lists walnuts, I opted for pecans. (Insert your shocked comments here.) If we just stopped there, I would be as happy as could be. These little cookies are so flavorful to have such a short list of ingredients.
But, we’re not stopping there. Oh, no. Enter another favorite, dulce de leche. That awesome, caramel-y goodness is spread between the cookies to create what is perhaps one of the top five sandwich cookies I’ve ever had the pleasure to eat. The big flavor of the dulce de leche doesn’t overwhelm the cookies. Instead, they seem to be a perfect complement to each other.
At One Girl Cookies in Brooklyn, the cookies all have proper names. I’ve had the pleasure of sampling several, including Penelope, Juliette, and a special one-day-only Millie. These shortbread cookies are called Jane. As pointed out in their cookbook, they may be Jane, but they are anything but plain.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted
- 3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- prepared dulce de leche
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
Whisk together flour and salt. Stir in pecans. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Scrape down sides of bowl. Add vanilla and mix for about 1 minute.
Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture. Mix for 20 seconds. Finish mixing by hand with a rubber spatula.
Scoop out about 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Place on prepared baking sheets. Gently press ball. Repeat with remaining cookie dough, leaving an inch between cookies.
Bake each pan 14-16 minutes, or until edges are lightly brown. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
Spread dulce de leche on the bottom side of half of the cooled cookies and top with another cookie (bottom sides facing each other).
Notes
Recipe adapted from One Girl Cookies
May 17th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
O. M. G. I love you. I pinned this recipe immediately, can’t wait to try these!!
May 17th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Oh wow! Gorgeous recipe. Have to try this out. Shortbread + dulce de
Leche?? Yummy
May 17th, 2012 at 3:20 pm
that first photo is like 3D to me
where is the scratch & sniff?
May 17th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Whoa. I looooove the look of this! Delicious!
May 17th, 2012 at 7:05 pm
You could put dulce de leche on anything, and it’d be awesome!
May 17th, 2012 at 9:59 pm
I was JUST looking through that cookbook today, and took note of these cookies! Glad to know they’re as delicious as I thought they’d be; I’ll definitely be giving these a try!
May 19th, 2012 at 8:58 pm
Now those looks absolutely delicious!!! My daughter would LOVE the caramel filling! YUM!
May 21st, 2012 at 10:37 am
Cream cheese, pecans, caramel? My mouth is watering.
May 22nd, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Two simple words… cookie nirvana! These are the best looking cookies I’ve run across today. I’m putting them on my holiday cookie list.
May 24th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
These sound amazing! I love a good shortbread cookie and the filling sounds like it makes a great cookie even better.
July 10th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
Just got a question
I’m from germany so I’m not used to this measuring in cups and I wondered about the 3/4 cup of butter being 12 tablespoons? That sounds like a lot to me. May I ask how big one of your cups is? It might just be me being a little confused but I really want to try those as they sound delicious *__*
July 10th, 2012 at 1:21 pm
Replica, 3/4 cup of butter is 12 tablespoons.
August 27th, 2012 at 9:52 am
I have the One Girl Cookies cookbook and have made these cookies. They are absolutely delicious by themselves but I’m sure the dulce de leche puts them over the top! I must and I will try with the dulce de leche. FYI…Williams Sonoma sells a dulce de leche that is outstanding!!