Three "alfajores" (dulce de leche/caramel sandwich cookies) on a green plate with powdered sugar sprinkled on top. The plate is on a wooden table, and there are colorful candy canes scattered behind the plate.

Caramel-Me Away Cookie Countdown to Christmas

Three "alfajores" (dulce de leche/caramel sandwich cookies) on a green plate with powdered sugar sprinkled on top. The plate is on a wooden table, and there are colorful candy canes scattered behind the plate.

Here we come a caramel-ing! Rivers of snow-white sugar—hailing from a wild night at Santa’s workshop—hit a Pacific Northwest bomb cyclone, and shorted out the electricity in at least twenty different counties in Western Washington.

Luckily, the Fixin’ Leaks and Leeks Team is handy with a bucket and spoon, ready to catch falling confections, stuff them inside cookies, and go door to door singing of wassail, figgy pudding, and wind-up radios that play funkadelic jazz music when the lights go out.

Gosh by golly, a caramel sandwich cookie IS jolly! It’s a festive way to start a cookie countdown to Christmas! These cookies are officially known as “alfajores,” but we call them gut-busters. They will fill your belly and then some—and you will be so happy.

For this recipe, I followed the “Alfajores (Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies)” recipe on allrecipes.com—and I didn’t make any additions or substitutions. The recipe calls for finding already made dulce de leche (caramel made from sweetened condensed milk), but you can make the dulce de leche easily enough. I found a recipe that called for placing sweetened condensed milk into a pie plate or glass dish and cooking it for about 1 ½ hours at 400° Fahrenheit.

But after celebrating Thanksgiving with a big meal and attempting a Rockettes kick line during the televised Macy’s Parade (my favorite tradition), I was plum tuckered out. So, this mama bought the dulce de leche in a can—and it tasted great!

Results: It doesn’t take much to be really happy—or full. Just one of these cookies, and you’ll be sent to stupefied splendor saying, “Num, num, num, nummmmmmm.” The cookie part of the sandwich is the perfect blend of buttery, flaky shortbread, and the caramel inside adds that smoothness and extra bit of sweetness everyone needs this time of year.

Serve these with:

–A jug of reindeer sightings

–Red and green sparkly headbands

–Sleighs full of eggnog (spiked with rum, if so inclined)

–A raucous snowball fight

–Snow pants

–That sweater in your drawer that’s festooned with elves on skis and Santa on a surfboard

–Troughs of paper snowflakes to dip in vats of glitter

Your Turn: Name a treat that makes you happy.

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Published by ckennedy

Author of the DIY blog: Fixin' Leaks and Leeks. Paper/Rock Writing Consultation, Sole Proprietor.

31 thoughts on “Caramel-Me Away Cookie Countdown to Christmas”

  5. Prior to adopting a low carbohydrate lifestyle, a vanilla slice would always brings a smile to my face. If you’re not familiar with this Australian treat, Wikipedia has a reasonable description.

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  6. I can’t help but think your favorite part of these posts is the “Serve these with” part. 😛 You certainly sold me on these cookies! Now I just to scramble together a raucous snowball fight!

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