Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Dulce de Leche + Cocoa Wafer Sandwich Cookies


I have made my love for Alice Medrich known many times. Especially in regards to her newest book, Pure Dessert. It is a beautiful book, with many fantastic recipes. I have probably baked more out of Pure Dessert than from any other book I have - with the exception of Baking from My Home to Yours, of course.

The first time I saw these cookies was on Smitten Kitchen, where Deb made a beautiful Icebox Cake out of them. This is incredibly intriguing to me, and one day I'll make one of them.

Then, quite a few weeks ago, Di and Nancy baked these cocoa wafers together via Twitter. I wanted to join in, but I wasn't able to on their appointed day & time. Plus, after looking at the recipe I noticed that it uses a food processor. Normally, I would just use my mixer and call it a day, but I was waiting on a 14-cup food processor to come in the mail - it was my big Christmas present this past year. It finally came at the beginning of February. It took me a couple of weeks to actually use it, but when I did I knew what I would be making first!

I wanted to do something special with these wafers, I didn't think a plain old thin cookie would have really done it for me. I was wrong. These are no ordinary cookies.

These cocoa wafers are magnificent. They taste purely of chocolate, and are on the bitter side. They are very thin, and very crispy. There isn't a hint of softness or chewiness in them. These would make a fantastic cookie crust (and I think Nancy and/or Di used them that way); you could make your own Thin Mints with them, or oreos, or fill them with some homemade dulce de leche as I did.

The sweetness of the dulce de leche is tempered by the deep chocolate of the cookie, and the result is a wonderfully satisfying cookie; crisp on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside, perfect.

My recipe is for Dulce de Leche is here. Cocoa Wafer recipe below.


Cocoa Wafers
adapted from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich


1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks and softened
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Combine flour, cocoa, sugar, salt and baking soda in bowl of food processor, and pulse until thoroughly combined. Add butter and pulse several times. Stir together milk and vanilla in small bowl, and add to bowl with food processor running. Process until dough clumps around blade, scraping bowl as necessary. Turn dough out onto board, and using your hands, make sure it is evenly blended. Form into a log, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour. When you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Cut slices 1/4 inch thick* from the log and place 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until cookies look dry on top and are fairly firm to the touch. Cool completely on baking sheet.

* For these sandwiches, I rolled the dough out to a scant 1/4" and used my smallest biscuit cutter to cut them out.





16 comments:

  1. Those look amazing Sarah!! I made that wafer recipe too but never blogged about it (I think because I forgot to photograph them) so I guess I'll just have to make them again so I can sandwich some dulce de leche in between :)

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  2. I made homemade dulce de leche just two days back.
    These look amazing and so would love to make a batch so I can use up my dulce de leche. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  3. These look lovely. I have this book on my wishlist but given how many I have amassed in just the last year, I won't be getting it for a bit.

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  4. I've said it before but I'll say it again - I love dulce de leche! Anything containing this marvellous sweet stuff has me there - these cookies look fab.

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  5. These sound dangerous! I'm bookmarking your dulce de leche...I've been looking for a good recipe for it, and with it prominently featured in TWD next month, I was getting anxious.

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  6. These look beautiful! Having gone to college in Winston and Caroline growing up in Asheville, I love the name of your blog. I have a huge soft spot for the Blue Ridge Mountains!

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  7. Leslie - I was so excited to see that those cookies were finally picked, I've been itching to make them!

    Adrianna - I live in Asheville! It is beautiful here. Thanks for visiting!

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  8. I made the wafers from Smitten Kitchen and fell in love with them. They were perfect in icebox cake AND made excellent ice cream sandwiches and s'mores. Yummy! I like your creamy filling too!

    I'm passing a blog award onto you. ;) Stop by my blog to find out more.

    ~Michelle

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  9. Those look wonderful. I love chocolate and caramel so after Easter, will have to try. Yum!!

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  10. I'm so happy you have a dulce de leche recipe for the upcoming TWD cookies. These look wonderful, too.

    I made an icebox cake out of chocolate wafers from the recipe in Baked and they were pretty good, but I definitely want to try Alice Medrich's.

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  11. Aren't these cookies great! I love what you did with yours. Mine are hanging out in the freezer awaiting their yummy fate.

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  12. These really were good. I'll definitely be making them again. I used them for cheesecake crust, which was really yummy. Add me to the people bookmarking the dulce de leche recipe for next month. =)

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  13. Sarah
    So excited to have found your blog! I just left Asheville about 5yrs ago and miss these mtns. Your cooking sound very similar to mine. Can't wait to try these cookies...just the perfect treat for my friends.

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  14. An eager cook in Ridgewood, NJApril 22, 2010 at 4:49 AM

    I'd made Alice Medrich's cocoa wafers for a party (including the roasted cacao nibs option) and wanted to sandwich them with something other than the white chocolate and mint oil in the book. This was a great idea! Just finished them and they are terrific looking. Can't wait to wow the folks. Never made dulce de leche before, either. Thank you for this creative suggestion.

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  15. Aren't these cookies great! I love what you did with yours. Mine are hanging out in the freezer awaiting their yummy fate.

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  16. Delicious! I can taste it just by looking. I saw some incredible cookie recipe at Everything-bread.com similar to this. Anyways this is different. This is great. Also, nice photography.
    Thanks Sarah for sharing this recipe!

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