From an Argentine Kitchen: La Vida Dulce

Like so many American college students, I spent half of my junior year in college studying abroad. My city of choice was Buenos Aires, Argentina, a buzzing and relatively sleepless city that manages to keep an aura of calm and Latin American slowness in each of its tiny corner cafes. Also like so many American college students, I regret the fact that I didn’t keep a more fastidious journal of all of my experiences while abroad. Instead, I’m stuck with having to mentally record each of the memories that come back to me at random times since my excursion, jogged now and again by sights, sounds, and tastes that populate my more mundane everyday existence.

It’s interesting that now that food has become such an important part of my life, I tend to reflect more on the food I ate in Argentina than perhaps I did while I was actually eating it. Most recently, caught in the throes of dreaming up a creative birthday cake for my fiancé (it’s a tough life, but somebody has to live it), I remembered perhaps my favorite dessert to ever come out of a home kitchen in Argentina. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have a name, but it involves coffee, chocolate, and the ubiquitous dulce de leche. As the Barefoot Contessa would say, “how bad can that be?”

Now, I have to be honest here. I’m not exactly a dulce de leche devotee. Even now that it’s gaining traction on the shelves of US supermarkets and becoming all the rage among foodies and bakers, it still doesn’t grace the inside of my pantry. For me it’s simply too sweet, with none of the acid or burnt bitterness of a good caramel. Argentines seem to have no upper limit when it comes to sweetness though, which was evident to me on my flight into the country, when the passenger next to me dumped about seven packets of sugar into his 2oz. coffee cup. And when it comes to dulce de leche, for Argentines it’s really more a matter of subsistence than anything else. They spread it on morning toast, eat it with sugared berries, and swirl it into ice cream so sweet it stings your throat.

But mixed with the potent combination of chocolate and coffee, dulce de leche is transformed completely and balanced perfectly by that gently acidic, slightly bitter influence. Although I wasn’t often blown away by the desserts my host family’s maid turned out (again, it’s a tough life I lead), this one hit the spot, and often inspired late-night refrigerator raids for just one more tiny sliver. Or gigantic slice, or whatever. So here’s the basic idea, in all of its simple and decidedly un-foodie-like glory: take some chocolate wafers, soak them in coffee, spread with dulce de leche, repeat. Think of it as the Argentine response to a classic American “icebox cake,” which is really just chocolate cookies layered with whipped cream and left to amalgamate in the refrigerator. In my opinion, though, the Argentine version is better, and not just because I like to coat it with a thick layer of bittersweet chocolate ganache.

What really makes this Argentine dessert delicious is the dulce de leche, which, to make it more spreadable and a bit less cloying, is mixed with some cultured dairy – sour cream or whipped cream cheese – that happens to be just about perfect. In Argentina, one would use “Casan crème” to cut the dulce de leche, which, although lacking a direct American analog is some hybrid of cream cheese, sour cream, and maybe quark or fromage blanc. But given that this dessert is one of assembly (you can purchase all of the individual components), specifics aren’t really that important. If you get all of that goodness in one dish – chocolate cookies, dulce, cream cheese, coffee, chocolate glaze – I promise, you can’t go wrong.

I’ve included a very loose recipe below, which obviates the need for measuring or turning on the oven. Although this dessert will garner stellar praise at any swanky dinner, at heart it’s a casual, homey, and strictly unfussy affair – with just the right amount of dulce.

Chocolate and dulce de leche refrigerator cake

Note: you can make this “cake” as large or as small as you’d like, just purchase ingredient amounts accordingly. The ratio of ingredients doesn’t matter much here, so just keep layering until you run out of cookies or filling.

1-2 packages thin chocolate wafer cookies, preferably rectangular (or make a batch of these)
1 container store-bought dulce de leche
~1/2 c. (4 oz.) whipped cream cheese, quark, or fromage blanc
~1 c. cooled, strong coffee
~8 oz. melted chocolate chips or ganache to cover surface of cake

Pour cooled coffee into a wide, shallow bowl. In another bowl, mix about half of the dulce de leche with the cream cheese. Taste the mixture, and add more cream cheese or dulce according to your tastes. Find a small glass or ceramic baking dish, preferably rectangular to facilitate layering the cookies. Start with a cookie layer: dunk a cookie briefly in the coffee, and place in the baking dish. Repeat until you have a 1-cookie-thick layer covering the bottom of the dish, overlapping the cookies slightly if necessary. Spread a layer of the dulce de leche mixture on top of the cookies. Repeat with another layer of coffee-soaked cookies, then dulce de leche, and continue layering until you’ve used up all of your cookies. You can finish either with cookies or dulce de leche. Melt chocolate chips or heat ganache until pourable, and drizzle over the top of the cake until it’s covered with a thin layer of chocolate. Place the whole thing in the refrigerator, preferably overnight or for a few hours, to allow the chocolate to harden and the flavors to mingle. Cut into small squares and serve chilled.

Photo from Buenos Aires Weekly