by Bonnjac, 1/5/2015
I made this cookie for my son's school project and I found the cookie to be tasteless.
I followed the instruction from the original maker in the reviews and adjusted the recipe as was suggested. I used Merkins chocolate which can make anything taste great but it didn't help these cookies. They looked great but tasted plain. I would not make these again.
by Likes2EatLove, 10/18/2010
Although I think it is a great idea, it feels like a very complicated recipe to duplicate. They pictures look fantastic. Sometimes we find cookies and desserts in bakeries and we want so badly to be able to make them ourselves, and this recipe really allows us and food lovers to see how hard it is sometimes to find a great recipe that is easy! I work for Better Recipes so I am constantly looking for better Cookie Recipes and although this one is very interesting - it feels a bit too complicated for the average chef.
by BasementBaker, 12/11/2009
I am really disappointed in all of the bad reviews. I am posting the original recipe that I gave to the editor of this recipe in hopes that it will be better than the one they published. I did some calculations, and the recipe published here is actually different from the one I sent. Sugar should have been 1 cup (7 oz.), butter should have been 9 oz. and water should have been 3 oz. I don't know why I didn't figure this out before. Here is my original recipe in weight meaure:
Flour 32 ounces (create your own ratio of whole wheat to AP)
Baking Powder 0.5 ounces
Salt 0.25 ounces
Sugar 12.25 ounces
Butter 16 ounces
Water 5.5 ounces
Citrus Zest 0.25
Vanilla 0.125 ounces
by TPatriz, 3/18/2010
I am giving this recipe three stars because it such a great idea. However, it turned out horribly for me. The cookie did not brown and once baked, tasted more a like a biscuit I could use for caviar. I could barely taste any sweetness but I do think there is a way to remedy that. By changing the shortbread to a regular brown sugar cookie, I should get better results. Also, I think milk chocolate would be better better than bittersweet or maybe even half and half. This is the first recipe from FC did not turn out so well for me. Better luck next time!
by Auralyn, 2/24/2010
These cookies were good, but not quite as delicious as I expected. I followed the recipe exactly and the cookies did look beautiful, but they were actually a bit dry, and if it were not for the dulce de leche (that I made following the "how to" from Fine Cooking magazine), rather boring. I thought the cookie itself was a little dry, dense, and overall not very flavorful. As I was working the dough, I had to add more water because the mixture kept falling apart ; I attributed this to high altitude and went on with the recipe, but maybe I would have been better off using butter instead of water. Also, I don't know that the wheat flour was a very good idea, I thought it made the cookie taste coarse instead of refined. And by the way, the cookie needed a bit more sugar in my humble opinion. I actually liked them better than anyone in my family, but next time I will try using my own light butter cookie recipe instead. Thank you for submitting the recipe anyway, they're a great idea and they're gorgeous -just a bit of work and not quite as luscious as I wanted, I guess.
by amlyfe, 1/8/2010
I was so excited to see this recipe in Fine Cooking since my Peruvian friend introduced me to these cookies a couple of years ago. I made these for my friends for Christmas and was fortunate enough to finish half of the batch first to try them. I used white whole wheat flour which does not have as strong a flavor as the red whole wheat. I rolled out the first disk of dough with all purpose flour and the cookies had a strong nutty flour taste which was barely overwhelmed by the ganache and dulce de leche. When I rolled out the second disk of dough I used powdered sugar instead of flour. This very much improved the flavor of the actual cookie. I didn't even notice a flavor problem in the second half. My boyfriend tasted them and declared them his favorite cookie of the four kinds I made. I would definitely recommend using powdered sugar to roll out the dough instead of flour, and if I make these again next year I might substitute all-purpose for half the wheat and add a smidge of vanilla. The alfajores I tried a couple of years ago were dusted with powdered sugar instead of dipped in chocolate. The chocolate dipping, while delicious can be messy, so if you wanted to skip it, you could just give the cookies a dusting of powdered sugar.
by legalcat, 12/28/2009
Sorry Andy, these were a disaster for me. I found the cookie very dry and all I could taste was the flour and a touch of orange zest. The cookies baked very unevenly, more oval shaped than round, and some puffed up significantly more than others. I've made dulce de leche before and that turned out fine. The chocolate was way too thick and it was impossible to dip the cookie and get an even coating without making a total mess. I ended up just dipping half the cookie in an attempt to salvage the cookies. Didn't care for the overall taste, expense and time for this poor result.
by SouthFrenchLady, 12/24/2009
The picture looks delicious-I added vanilla to my dough. And it said it only took 1/4 cup cold water to form dough, but it took me a lot more. I think it was because of the wheat flour. I think if I were to do this again, I would add vanilla, more orange zest, and less whole wheat flour.
by szatlanta, 12/20/2009
Very disappointing! I made homemade dulce de leche and used ghirardelli chocolate, but the cookie part was so bad, those two things couldn't even save it. I took a reviewers advice and used just 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 3 cups regular. Definitely not worth the trouble!
by mom_of_five, 12/12/2009
This cookie could be very good but the cookie itself is lacking in flavor and texture. If I make them again, I will not include the whole wheat flour, it is to over powering. I will also add more vanilla and sugar. The cookie taste more like a biscuit then a cookie. The dough is easy to work with. But my kids won't eat them....that says a lot!
by ANGELAREMSEN, 11/29/2009
I have made my own dulce de leche filling many times by boiling the cans of sweetened condensed milk, so my rating is based solely on the cookie part of this recipe. The dough is easy to work with, but I think lacks a bit of flavor. I have made the recipe three times now for a cookie swap and it definately tastes better with pure vanilla extract added and perhaps the addition of more sugar? Also, for my own personal preference, I think the flavor of the whole wheat flour is a bit overpowering. I am going to try the recipe using all regular flour at some point. Overall though, an outstanding, different and memorable cookie!
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