Condensed Milk Cookies
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These sweetened condensed cookies are so ridiculously easy you would want to jump and throw whatever you have in your hands to bake a batch. These sweet biscuits are buttery and crumbly and not overly sweet. You only need 4 ingredients for the basic recipe and the sky is the limit for other delicious flavors you can add on. No eggs needed! In less than 30 minutes you can have 1 cookie in each hand. You are simply going to love them!
I was super excited to share this basic recipe with you because I have been in a somewhat lazy era. No, it’s not that I’m not loving cooking and baking right now (NEVER!!!). It’s just that nowadays I have been appreciating stillness more. My deep immersion into my real life, the no-need to chase anything, the pleasure of just be and being is something quite unfamiliar to me. During my whole life, and especially during the time my daughter Mariana was here on Earth with me, I have always been after something. There were things waiting to be accomplished. There were (mental) finish lines waiting to be crossed. And probably all of those things were important and completely valid at the moment. Especially for a mom that needed important things to happen for her special needs daughter. They were serving a purpose in my life. But now they seem like out of a movie I saw once and could not even remember its tittle. Now those are the things that feel unfamiliar to me at the moment in time I‘m now.
It’s precisely in an attempt to connect with how I’m breathing my life currently that I’m feeling very drawn to unfussy and simple recipes like this one. The ones that make you say why I’m not doing (and eating!) this every week. And that’s one of the beauties of cooking. It will adapt to anything real to you at any moment in time. If you make a pause and connect to yourself, this connection will lead you to things that will bring you joy. The real kind. And the recipes you are loving can tell you a lot about what’s going on that pretty soul of yours.
This easy condensed milk cookies recipe is exactly the kind of recipe I’m craving now. Technically you only need 3 ingredients: butter, condensed milk and flour. This is a no-egg condensed milk cookies recipe. Anything else are the cherries on top. In this case very literal because after baked, I toped mine with a homemade cherry compote. I also added some vanilla and lemon zest to give more dimension to their flavor.
Rolling them through some sugar adds a bit of texture but is optional as well. The best part was that dust of confectioner’s sugar and that cherry filling! As you can see you can use sweetened condensed milk in cookies when you want for a sweet and fast treat!
Be creative and feel free to add almond or orange extract, orange zest or fill these with any other fruit filling, Nutella or dulce de leche, which has to be lovely, btw! You can use store bought marmalade or use my raspberry compote recipe, my cranberry curd recipe or my lemon curd recipe as well.
These cookies are one of the best things you can do with a can of sweetened condensed milk. These are how they are done!
How to Make Sweetened Condensed Milk Cookies
You can eat these plain but if you want to add some flair, fill them with a nice sweet fruit compote like the cherry one I made here. Cook this first so it has time to cool down. I highly recommend you breakdown the fruit with an immersion blender for a smoother filling. If you still want the pieces of fruit, use a small spoon to fill the cookies. And yes, you can make this a few days in advance!
When ready to make the cookies, start by taking the butter out so it gets pretty soft but without letting it become oily. In the meantime line your baking sheet with parchment, preheat oven to 350° and if you want, rub some granulated sugar with lemon zest to coat the cookies.
When the butter is ready, mix it with the condensed milk and optional flavorings such as vanilla and lemon zest as I did here. Press it towards the wall of the bowl to make sure is well smothered and mixed with the rest of the ingredients. Add flour, a bit of salt and mix until a smooth paste.
Now you’ll create 1” cookie dough balls with your hands. theseRoll the each cookie ball through some sugar. You can use confectioner’s sugar or natural granulated cane sugar as I did here. Place in the baking tray and with your hands or a flat bottomed utensil press the dough down until ¼” of thickness approximately. Use your fingers to refine the rounded shape and to make the thumbprint heart. Bake and let cookies cool down completely in the tray.
Dust the cookies with confectioner’s sugar (if you coat them with granulated sugar) and fill each heart with the cherry compote or any spread you like. I used a pastry bag but you can use a large ziplock bag as well for this purpose. Make a tiny cut on the tip of the bag. If using a spread with large chunks of fruit, use a small spoon instead. Cookies can be left in a dry fresh area and will be good for many days.
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My off-white hearts mixing bowl, which is even prettier in real life! Available in bright red as well.
My golden sieve.
Pre-cut parchment paper, which is a time and energy saver.
Some flat bottomed measuring cups like the ones I used.
Check other baking and cooking essentials on a little shop I created for u!
3 recipes I think you’ll love if you’re loving this one:
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As my friend Ina says, how easy is that?!! An unfussy sweet recipe that will soothe you mind for these moments when slow living is the call of the day. But don’t forget to take a pic and share them with me in Instagram (@devamadeo), TikTok (@DevAmadeo) or Facebook (@DevAmadeo) when you make it. Love to see what you make!
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Condensed Milk Cookies
Ingredients
Cherry Compote:
◯ Cold water - ¼ cup, 62g
◯ Cornstarch - 1 TBSP, 10g
◯ Lemon juice - 2 TBSP/28g
◯ Cherries, whole and pitted - 2 cup, 400g
◯ Natural granulated sugar (cane sugar) - 4 TBSP, 56g
Condensed Milk Cookies:
◯ Natural granulated sugar - ¼ cup
◯ Lemon zest (optional) - about 1 TBSP, the zest of 1 large lemon, divided
◯ Butter, softened - 13 TBSP, 180g
◯ Sweetened condensed milk - ½ cup, 154g
◯ Vanilla extract (optional) - ½ Tsp
◯ All-purpose flour (preferably unbleached) - 2 cups, 270g
◯ Pinch of salt
◯ Confectioner’s sugar to dust after baked - about ¼ cup/28g
Details
Yield:
14 to 16 cookies
Total time:
30 minutes
Active time:
10 minutes to make the cherry compote, 5 minutes to make the cookie dough.
Baking time:
10 minutes
Equipment:
Large mixing bowl, baking tray, parchment paper, cookie scooper
Steps:
Cherry Compote:
Mix the ¼ cup/62g of cold water and the 1 tablespoon/10g of cornstarch until dissolved. If using frozen cherries, combine the 2 tablespoon/28g of lemon juice with these.
Add the previous mixture to a small pot. Place in the 2 cup/400g of cherries, the lemon juice (if you haven't added in the step before) and the 4 tablespoons/56g of sugar. Gently mix and let it boil, then cook for 5 extra minutes, until you see the fruit is breaking and the liquid is thickening. Retire from heat and let it cool.
After cooled down, use an immersion blender to break down the fruit until smooth. Very small pieces of fruit is ok.
Condensed milk cookies:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line with parchment paper or a silicon mat a baking sheet.
Rub the ¼ cup with half of the lemon zest for about a minute and set aside. If not using lemon zest, just leave the sugar in a small bowl or plate to roll the cookies dough later.
With a silicon spatula, mash the 13 tablespoons/180g of butter just to make it smooth. Pour the ½ cup/154g of sweetened condensed milk, the ½ teaspoon of vanilla and the remaining lemon zest (if using) and mash everything up and then mix until small lumps of butter. Add the 2 cups/270g of flour and the pinch of salt and stir to combine. When everything is well incorporated start pressing the dough to make it loosely compact.
Take about 1 tablespoon of the dough and roll it to make a ball. Roll that dough ball through the lemon zest sugar. Place ball in the baking sheet and press it down using a flat-bottom utensil until it’s about ¼” thick. With your fingers perfect the rounded shape. Using your thumb press the cookie in the center diagonally to make half of the heart, then repeat with your other thumb to press the other side. Use your index fingers to refine the heart shape.
Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, until deep golden yellow in color. Edges can be a bit darker. Let them cool down completely in the baking sheet.
Dust confectioner’s sugar on top of the cookies.
Transfer blended cherry compote to a pastry bag or large Ziplock bag and cut the tip. Fill the heart shaped hollow. Use a chopstick or toothpick to bring compote to the edges and refine the shape.
Cookies are ready to eat!!
