Dulce de Leche Filled Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

I was so focused on the filling of these Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cookies that I didn't realize I've posted 2 chocolate cookies in a row! Well, like the previous post, chocolate is great with not only with peanut butter, but also with this amazing rich caramel flavor. And, of course, with so many other flavor combos. The possibilities are endless!
This is a Martha Stewart recipe for the chocolate cookie that I took from her October 2007 issue.
She doesn't give the recipe for the dulce de leche with it but I happen to have made it yesterday using this recipe so I wanted to give this one a try.
I was surprised that the cookie turned out so hard and crunchy, however it only uses 2 tablespoons of butter so that alone should have tipped me off to the texture. I'm kind of thinking a softer cookie would have been a better match for this filling.
The cookie dough came together easily enough and the baking time was very short. At first I thought the recipe called for too much salt, but I did like the salty taste with the caramel taste. A kind of sweet and salty combo that works well together.
One last thing, I could only get 16 cookies from a batch and I used the same 2" size called for in the recipe and kept them 1/8" thick. Any thicker than that would be too much for this sandwich cookie.

So begin by beating the butter and sugars in a mixing bowl on medium speed til pale and fluffy.
Whisk the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. ( I sifted the cocoa powder into the mix.)

Beat in egg, yolk, chocolate and vanilla into the butter/sugar mix.

Add the dry mixture and beat til just combined. The dough will be stiff. You'll need to loose the spatula and switch to a heavy spoon to scoop the dough out of the bowl.

The recipe says to shape the dough into a disc and refridgerate for 1 hour. Ok, I found this to be an unnecessary step, although I did it this way, next time I'd just roll the dough out between 2 pieces of plastic wrap or waxed paper to the thickness needed, then refridgerate to chill the dough. This saves time and energy because, unless you want an upper body workout, you won't have to roll out the thick hard dough to the thin 1/8" needed!

You can reroll the scraps til it's all used.

I used my usual sugar sprinkled cookie sheet method. Martha's recipe calls for using parchment paper to cover the sheet. If you choose my method, just remember to loosen under each cookie immediately after taking out of the oven with a sturdy spatula or they'll probably never come off in one piece!
One final word about the center cut out. I do not have, or ever plan to have, an aspic cutter set which she says to use for the cut out! ( They were originally called "Bat Cookies") I found something that seemed to be the right size in one of the drawers. It was the plastic collar piece that is used for the royal icing tip. Whatever you can find that will make a cut out is fine, even a knife will do!

Dulce de Leche Filled Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

3/4 cup AP flour

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder

3/4 tsp. coarse salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temp.

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

4 oz. semi sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. dulce de leche

1. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder.

2. In mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars til pale and fluffy.

3. Beat in egg, yolk, chocolate and vanilla.

4. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture. Beat til just combined.

5. Shape into a disc, wrap in plastic and refridgerate 1 hour. ( Or roll out to 1/8" thickness between 2 pieces of plastic wrap or waxed paper and refridgerate 1 hour.)

6. Roll out dough to 1/8" thickness ( or just skip to the cutter part if using my method)

7. Cut out rounds with a 2" cutter and place, 1" apart, on parchment lined cookie sheet.( Or use my method sprinkling sugar on the sheet.).

8. Cut centers out of half of the cookies. Refridgerate again if they got too warm about 30 minutes.

9. Preheat oven to 375. Bake 7 minutes or til set. Immediately loosen each cookie with spatula if not using parchment paper. Let cool. Top each uncut cookie with the filling and a cut out cookie.