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This popular Crumbl copycat tastes just like the original! A tender cinnamon sugar cookie topped with dulce de leche AND a swirl of cream cheese buttercream. This cookie is the perfect combination of cinnamon, sweet and caramelly goodness!

snickerdoodle cookie with dulce de leche on top with a little frosting.

Dulce De Leche Cookies

Dulce de leche is one of those culinary buzzwords that seems to be all the rage right now. But don’t let my bilingual talents scare you off, Dulce de Leche is nothing more than a fancy word for a thick caramel made with sweetened condensed milk. (Hence the name dulce de leche, “sweet milk”)

These cookies, topped with dulce de leche, are absolutely delicious! Just think about the best snickerdoodle of your life, topped with caramel and cream cheese frosting! Seriously…what’s not to love! It’s the best of both delicious worlds! And I am HERE. FOR. IT!

snickerdoodle cookie on a cookie cooling rack with dulce de leche on. top

Ingredients in Dulce De Leche Cookies

For the Cookies

  • Butter- I use salted butter. You will want to make sure that it is softened though so that you can cream it together with the sugar.
  • Granulated Sugar- Nothing fancy here, just plain old white sugar.
  • Eggs
  • Vanilla
  • Flour- Just plain old all purpose flour will be perfect!
  • Baking Powder
  • Cinnamon– This will go into the cookie dough.
  • Cinnamon and Sugar– This will be used to roll the cookie dough into before baking to give the cookie the classic snickerdoodle look and taste.

For the Frosting

  • Dulce de Leche- They sell this in cans that almost look like sweetened condensed milk cans. You can find it at almost any grocery store, either on the baking isle near the canned milk, or on the Hispanic food isle.
  • Butter- Again this should be softened.
  • Cream Cheese- This should also be room temperature in order to incorporate it fully into the frosting.
  • Vanilla
  • Powdered Sugar
  • Salt- Just a pinch will do!
  • Milk or Cream- Just a small splash to get the frosting to the right consistency, if needed.
dulce de leche cookie on a black cookie cooling rack.

How to Make Dulce de Leche Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

While the oven is preheating, make the dough by creaming together your butter and sugar until it is light in color and fluffy. Next scrape the sides and add in your eggs and vanilla and beat again.

Scrape the sides again and add your dry ingredients. Mix again until the dough comes together but do not overmix the dough once the flour has been added because overmixing will result in dry, tough cookies.

Scoop out 1/3 cup of dough and roll it into a ball. Do this until you have 12 dough balls. Roll each of the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar mixture and flatten them slightly in your hands so that the dough ball looks like a hockey puck.

Place the dough balls on a cookie sheet. The cookies will spread a bit as they bake, so I only put 6 cookies per pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes being careful not to overbake. You will know the cookies are done when they have puffed up in the center and the tops no longer look glossy.

While the cookies are cooling, make your frosting by whipping the butter, cream cheese, vanilla and 1/4 cup dulce de leche together until smooth. Next, add the powdered sugar in one cup at a time. When your powdered sugar is mixed in, add your milk or cream 1 tsp at a time until your frosting as reached the desired consistency. Be careful not to add too much liquid to the frosting at a time. A little goes a long way when you are working with powdered sugar.

Add the frosting to a piping bag with a large closed star tip, or a gallon size zip top bag with the tip cut of the corner off the bag and set aside.

When the cookies have cooled on the pan for about 15 minutes, spoon a tablespoon of dulce de leche onto each of the cookies and let it spread.

Finally pipe a dollop of buttercream onto the center of each cookie and serve warm.

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More Delicious Crumbl Copycats

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5 from 4 votes

Copycat Crumbl Dulce De Leche Cookies

This popular Crumbl copycat tastes just like the original! A tender cinnamon sugar cookie topped with dulce de leche AND a swirl of cream cheese buttercream. This cookie is the perfect combination of cinnamon, sweet and caramelly goodness!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 13 minutes
Servings: 24 1/2 cookie servings

Ingredients 

Cookie Base

  • 1 1/2 cups salted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Cinnamon and Sugar

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Frosting + Toppings

  • 1 13.4 oz can dulce de leche
  • 2 tbsp salted butter, softened
  • 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 pinch salt

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350°.
  • While the oven is preheating make the cookie dough. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Scrape the sides, add in the eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat until mixed.
  • Scrape the sides and add in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix until thoroughly combined.
  • Scoop out 1/3 cup of dough and roll into a ball. Repeat with remaining dough.
  • Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, toss and press the cinnamon and sugar onto the cookie dough. Flatten the cookie dough by gently so it is in the shape of a hockey puck. Repeat with remaining dough.
  • The cookies will spread so make sure to leave room. I tend to only put 6 cookies per pan.
  • Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until the centers of the cookies have puffed up and are no longer glossy.
  • While the cookies are cooling on the pan, make the frosting, by whipping the butter, cream cheese, vanilla and 1/4 cup dulce de leche until smooth.
  • Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, letting the ingredients combine completely before adding the next cup.
  • Add milk a tsp at a time until you've reached your desired consistency, if needed.
  • Add the frosting to a piping bag fit with a large closed star tip (2D). Set aside.
  • Once the cookies have cooled on the pan for about 15 minutes, spoon about a tbsp of dulce de leche onto the top of the cookies.Pipe a dollop of frosting into the center of each cookie. Serve warm.

Nutrition

Calories: 325kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 59mg | Sodium: 136mg | Potassium: 95mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 477IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 1mg
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About Karli

This blog is a little glimpse into my kitchen, family & life. I hope you’ll giggle the days away with me and enjoy the craziness that goes on at my house. If you are Cookie obsessed like I am, check out my Sister Site, Cookies for Days.

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Recipe Rating




4 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    These cookies were delicious! I over baked them and they came out crunchy (my own fault). Definitely need to do 12 minutes next time. The recipe was super easy to follow. Can’t wait to make the next recipe! Thank you for sharing this with us!

  2. Great recipes…

    Karli, at what altitude are your recipes created for? I’m at 6,500ft; so I’m curious about what I’ll need to tweak and how much.