Nightcap of Choice: Steamed Cinnamon Almond Milk with Honey and Cardamom--ready with pics

I need to drink something hot after dinner. I call it my nightcap.
If I had my way, it would be hot chocolate every night, but because I have to be rational sometimes, and a day full of cookie baking, followed by a large mug of cocoa cannot be called rational, I usually make tea.
I'm sick of tea right now. I sipped it all summer long, and I want something more. Something that screams fall, something spicy, healthy, and a little sweet.
That's where Andrea comes in.

My sis is a die hard almond milk fan and has really turned me onto the stuff. Her favorite preparation: Steamed.
She usually just gives it a good fluff, maybe with a little bit of cinnamon or honey, but I go hard.
Not like that, oh no, I meant with spices.
Legal, healthy spices.

Steamed Honey-Spiced Almond Milk
Serves 2

1 1/2 cups plain, unsweetened almond milk
2-3 cardamom pods, cracked with seeds inside
3 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the steam setting on a cappuccino machine.
Fill 2 10 oz mugs (8 oz will cork, but it's a tight squeeze) with 3/4 cup of almond milk, each.
Add half the honey, cinnamon, and cracked cardamom pods to each mug.
Stir well. Using the steamer heat the milk until warm, not adding any foam. Stir again, until the honey is dissolved in the mugs.
Return the mugs to the steamer, moving constantly and bobbing up and down until foamy and hot. Serve hot with the cardamom pods still in the mugs for extra aroma and steeping flavor. Do not eat the pods.

*Make sure you clean your steam nozzle thoroughly, as the honey will make it sticky*

The DulceDoodle

I'm not a fan of snickerdoodles, but because I'm a good sister, and she's been begging for them for about a month now, I indulged my twinny and made snickerdoodles for this week's Sunday Sweetie. Because yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, and I cannot possibly make a cookie without some element of gooeyness, I decided to use the can of dulce de leche I'd been saving and make what three different people have told me is the best cookie in the whole wide world: The DulceDoodle.
These cookies are essentially a riff on the Argentine alfajore, which is a buttery cookie with cajeta (dulce de leche made with goat's milk) sandwiched in the middle. Alfajores are divine, by the way. Instead of a sandwich, though, this cookie is stuffed. Instead of a butter cookie, I made a not-super-sweet snickerdoodle with espresso powder and dulce de leche in the dough. Oh, and there's a special technique to really caramelize the cinnamon sugar on the outside and give it that perfectly burnt taste. Essentially, this cookie tastes blissfully foreign, but like your grandma made them at the same time. They're really, really good--and I really don't even like snickerdoodles.

Gnam Gnam!

DulceDoodles
(Makes about 20 cookies with leftover filling)

Cookie dough:
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbs dulce de leche (straight out of the can, without the additions)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2-3/4 tsp instant coffee powder (depending on how much coffee flavor you want)

1) Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla, egg, dulce de leche, and coffee and continue beating until fluffy.
2) In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients in 2 batches, mixing well between batches. When combined, cool dough thoroughly (at least 3 hours in the fridge)

For the Dulce de Leche:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp milk (I used almond milk)

Rolling Sugar:
1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 Tbs ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp chili powder
(Mix all well)

1) Fill a medium sauce pan with water and completely submerge the can. Bring the water to a boil and cook the can for 3 hours. (Make sure the can is always completely submerged to prevent it from exploding and causing a whole mess of dangerous problems. If you are not comfortable with this method, there are several ways to make it with an opened can, in a slow cooker, and it is available already canned in most grocery stores, though you may have to check the international section)
2) Empty the can (minus the 3T used in the dough) into a bowl and thoroughly mix in the cinnamon, milk and vanilla. If you have time, it is easier to fill the cookies after the filling has cooled for a while and is a little thicker.

Making the Cookies:

1) Preheat oven to 400* Form the dough into rounds with a cookie scoop or spoon.
2) Split each dough ball in half and use your finger to create a dent in the middle of each half. Fill the halves with the dulce de leche, put the halves back together and roll back into a ball to seal the filling inside.
3) To really caramelize the sugar: Roll each ball in a little bit of water, then in the cinnamon sugar.
4) Place the cookies about an inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet (preferably not greased) and bake for 10 minutes, turning the pan half way through.
5) Because the sugar caramelizes, it's hard to tell when they're finished by their color, so make sure to keep an eye on them. After removing them from the oven, they will be very soft and fragile from the filling, so let them cool on the baking sheets for about 5 to 10 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

6) ENJOY! Y Feliz Cinco de Mayo

Sorry for the lack of pictures, the cookies were snatched and devoured before I was able to get any shots, so I took that as a good sign, even if it does mean a slightly barren blog post.