I’m on a bit of a dulce de leche kick these days… It’s so easy to make and I actually like it better than regular caramel. It has a tangy and nutty undertone to it and it stays soft, even when cool.
This weekend I wanted to see if I could make cookies stuffed with dulce de leche. First I made a batch of my easy homemade dulce de leche, then when it had cooled I whipped up a batch of my Next Level Chocolate Chip Cookie dough. I rolled the dough into balls using 2 tbsp of the cookie dough for each ball, then shaped each ball into a bowl shape and spoon a teaspoon of DDL into the middle then I reformed the ball around the DDL and made sure it was sealed in the middle. After baking, I had a lovely gooey centre of dulce de leche in the middle of each cookie! But … it was a hare on the sweet side for my liking.
I decided to try again, but this time I used a chocolate cookie dough, which is the same one I used in my raspberry chocolate cookie cups. Since was using dulce de leche in the middle, I was inspired to reference more Latin American flavours by adding some chipotle powder and cinnamon to the cookie batter and rolling the balls of dough in sugar spiced with cinnamon and chipotle powder before baking. This type of cookie is usually called a Mexican Hot Chocolate cookie. I doubt it’s Mexican at all, but I didn’t make up the name 🙂
This cookie was the winner! The cookie baked up crispy on the outside and brownie-like on the inside, with a rich gooey centre of dulce de leche, that stayed gooey even when the cookies were well cooled! I enjoyed the subtle heat from the chipotle powder as well. I posted a picture on Reddit of the cookie and it went viral so I had to share the recipe. It took me a few days to write a blog about it, but here is the recipe for all of my followers.
We really enjoyed these cookies and they didn’t last long in our house. I hope you enjoy them too!
I did get a note from one person who had tried the recipe to say that they really enjoyed the cookies but the store-bought dulce de leche they used absorbed into the cookie. I didn’t have that problem at all, so perhaps it’s best to make the dulce de leche from scratch for this recipe. It’s easy to do, so I urge you to give it a try!

Ingredients
- For the cinnamon Sugar
Instructions
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For the Dulce de Leche
- Stir the sea salt into the dulce de leche to combine.
- Place 18 teaspoon-sized dollops of the dulce de leche onto a baking sheet or plate and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. The dulce de leche will not harden but will be easier to handle. For the Cookie Batter
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, chipotle powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together corn syrup, egg white and vanilla.
- In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars on medium speed, until thoroughly combined and mixture looks fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- On low speed, add in corn syrup mixture and mix to combine.
- Stir in flour mixture and chopped chocolate until combined.
- Place the batter in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 375 F/190 C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- After the batter has chilled, form balls with 2 tablespoons of batter at a time. You should have 16-18 balls total.
- Working with one ball at a time, form the ball into a bowl-like shape. Place one of the dulce de leche dollops in the centre and form the ball of dough back around the dulce de leche, making sure to seal it up completely in the middle of the ball. Place on one of your baking sheets while you prepare the rest of the filled dough balls.
- Combine 1/3 cup sugar with 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon and 1/4 tsp chipotle powder in a small bowl. Roll the dough balls in the sugar to thoroughly coat the outside then place them back on your cookie sheets.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes until the tops looked dried out, rotating the trays halfway through baking, The middles will be quite soft still, do not over bake!
- Let the cookies cool on the pans for 5 minutes then move to a rack to cool completely.
Notes
*I have received feedback that store-bought dulce de leche absorbs into the cookie so it's best to try with the home-made kind. It's easy to make, so I urge you to try it!
** The cookie batter can get quite sticky as it warms up when you are forming balls. A suggestion to avoid this would be to form the dough into a log shape, wrapped in plastic wrap, and freeze until firm. Then slice the dough into the portions you need.