Friday 28 October 2011

Argentine Thumbprint Cookies

Argentine Thumbprint Cookie broken in half

Recently, I have become a keen drinker of Mate. Despite the fact that Mate suppresses the appetite, I always enjoy a sweet accompaniment, just as I do with my tea and coffee. Argentines are famous for their love of intense flavours and their love of dulce de leche, as I mentioned in a previous post. They drink their Mate very bitter. I drink Mate differently from the Latin Americans, with more water and much less yerba, in order to accommodate my sensitive palate.

Yerba Mate

I have always thought that 'thumbprint cookies' were cute. I had a browse on the internet and found that there are not many thumbprint cookies with dulce de leche. Argentine alfajores (which I sampled in Barcelona) generally consist of two shortbread cookies joined together with a filling of dulce de leche and dusted with desiccated coconut. I decided to transfer this idea into thumbprint cookies (as they are just adorable).

Argentine Thumbprint Cookies before cooking

I followed a shortbread recipe that I found on the internet which called for equal parts of butter and flour. The dough felt extremely oily so I added in some more flour before I shaped the cookies. Unfortunately, the cookies turned out a lot bigger and less 'adorable' than I had anticipated/hoped for.

Argentine Thumbprint Cookies

I tried again and this time managed to burn them. They were still worthy of being eaten, but definitely not worthy for the blog.

Dulce de leche centre

So, I tried for a third time and finally I had success! I creamed 125g of butter with 55g of sugar. I then mixed in 180g of flour and shaped the dough into small balls. I coated the balls with desiccated coconut, placed them onto a baking tray and pushed my thumb into the centre to create 'bowls' for the dulce de leche. After baking them until they were golden brown (around 10 minutes at 180°C), I filled the thumbprints with dulce de leche and added an extra dusting of coconut. They were small, cute and very tasty.

Argentine Thumbprint Cookie

Is anyone else, out there, a Mate drinker?

18 comments:

  1. I have never heard of Mate, so no, not a drinker, yet! Those cookies are awesome, absolutely divine. Quite similar to millionaires shortbread I made, except that chocolate is replaced with coconut.

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  2. they look really good! I know.. dulce de leche is really the best and they add it in almost every dessert they possibly can, from bread, cookies, ice cream, etc

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  3. All of your pictures are so pretty! And these cookies look really good!

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  4. I know the pain of making a recipe several times to get it right. These were worth it. They came out beautiful!

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  5. Those look divine! what woderful cookies.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  6. I've never drunk Mate, but I'd drink it if it came with these pretty little treats!

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  7. I had never heard of Mate but have just done some internet research - I hope you are ok drinking this Hazel!
    The dulce de leche has been put to very good use and the cookies look a real treat.
    You will have to let us know how you achieve such wonderful photographs.
    PS give me a shout every time you post!

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  8. Never heard of Mate (where do you get it?) but the cookies look delicious!

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  9. Thanks Nic! Unfortunately, I haven't found anywhere to buy it in England. My boyfriend brought some to California and then I brought some more back from Spain!

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  10. Now to make these three times is true dedication! They look really cute and sound absolutely delicious. i love shortbread anyway and this sounds like a great variation. Am intrigued by mate now and will have to go and find out what it is and yerba for that matter.

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  11. It's a type of holly apparently - sounds intriguing. I like the way it's meant to be drunk through a straw to seive out the leaves. Doesn't look as though it's going to be easily available in the UK though.

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  12. we've got some ridiculous tiny teabags with mate-tea in germany - no comparision to real mate! hazel your cookies look temptingly good, extremely sweet things hah ? :)

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  13. The cookies look delicious!

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  14. Thanks for your comment Choclette. Sorry for my rather delayed reply! My boyfriend brought me some yerba from Argentina and then I found some in Spain, but I am yet to find it in England. I think it is only available on the internet but the postage is extortionate! Fortunately, I love many different types of hot drinks, so I haven't ran out of yerba just yet!

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  15. I've never heard of Mate but I love learning about new things. These cookies look amazing!! I've always wanted to make thumbprint cookies too. Well done for trying 3 times, I probably would have given up before then!

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  16. My mom loves thumbprint cookies. I bet she would love these!

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  17. Mmmm, dulce de leche filled thumbprints - my idea of heaven.

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