La Dulce Vida

I met Chef Rossy Earle a few months back at the Salsa Smackdown, which she won. Since then, we've seen each other at subsequent 86'd events and chatted on twitter. The other day, she said she was bringing me a treat. And what a treat it is! Her home-made toasted almond dulce de leche. I believe the word I'm looking for is "drool".

I love all things caramel flavoured and this creamy concoction is one of my favourites. Rossy's version smelled amazing, first of all. The aroma of the toasted nuts left me a bit weak in the knees. Then I tasted it. Rich and sweet, the almonds added not only crunch, but a depth of flavour to the sauce.

Not only did I get a generous amount of the dulce to take home, but my new pal Jennifer also gifted me with some of her delicious oatmeal raisin cookies (adapted from this Epicurious recipe). So of course I went home and had a nearly pornographic snack by dipping the cookies in the dulce. I can't even explain to you what a sinful combo this was. You just have to taste for yourself.

Dulce de leche is not only great on cookies though. It's great on a vanilla ice cream, in a churro, or as I had today, with fruit. I sliced up a Pink Lady apple and just let the juicy, barely tart fruit marry it's heavy apple flavour to the creamy sweetness. Heaven. My co-workers agreed. Yes, I shared. I'm a giver. What can I say? What other foods would you have or have you had with dulce de leche?

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

For her version, Jen used all brown sugar, upped the cinnamon to 1 tbsp and added 1 cup of those big organic raisins. Another variation she really likes is to add 1 TBSP lemon Zest and use 1 cup of dried cranberries in place of the raisins

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ sticks unsalted butter, softened
• ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease baking sheets.

Stir together oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Beat together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined well. Add oat mixture and beat until just combined.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets and flatten mounds slightly with moistened fingers. Bake cookies in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, about 12 minutes total. Transfer to racks to cool.