Alfajores

Kitty FloridoAugust 21, 2016

This post is also available in / Esta entrada también está disponible en ESPAÑOL (SPANISH)

Sometimes easy recipes can be intimidating, specially if they have many steps. This recipe has only 9 steps, 8 if you don’t count storing the cookies. Alfajores are one of those treats that you don’t pass by if offered. They are perfectly crumbly shortbread-like cookies, filled with dulce de leche. Now, I didn’t make the dulce the leche from scratch (next time I will!), but that was because I am preparing some recipes for our Guatemalan recipes section.

The cookie dough is not hard to make, you just have to be patient. The recipe I found from Cooking with Books, made it a breeze. She makes great suggestions, that I wrote bellow as well, such as making sure that the dry ingredients are sifted, the butter soft, and patience when mixing together the dough.

She’s right! At first sight it might seem like the dough won’t come together at all, but after a few minutes it starts to look more like a cookie dough. I added a picture below of how the cookie dough looked after completing the mixing time. I used a silicone spatula to clean off the sides of the mixing bowl to make sure that everything else is properly combined.

Apart from that, you’ll notice that the recipe is in grams and not in cups. We recommend using a kitchen scale. You can find different ones in the market, we suggest using the electric scales as they are the most accurate.

After that, I grabbed a ¼ of the dough to roll it out with little flour. I rolled it out on my silicone mat, which made it easier to roll it out with little flour, and just a bit more on the rolling-pin. Since I don’t have a simple round cookie cutter… I used a shot glass instead! Make things work with what you have around.

For piping the dulce de leche, I used a disposable piping bag, but you can also use a small ziplock bag, just cutting off the tip. Make sure to place the dulce de leche in the center of the cookie, not all the way to the edge. That way, when we press two cookies together, the dulce de leche doesn’t drip.

The cookies lasted almost 4 days at home, but we’re sure they perfectly last a week while stored in an airtight container.

Kitty

Alfajores

Recipe by Cooking with Books
Yield: 30 medium sandwich cookies

Ingredients:
200 grams all-purpose flour
300 grams cornstarch
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
200 grams unsalted butter, softened
150 grams sugar
3 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fresh lime zest
1 13-ounce can of dulce de leche
confectioners’ sugar for decorating

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 325°F.
Sift flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar for 5 minutes.
Add egg yolks, vanilla extract, and lime zest and mix until completely combined.
Add all the dry ingredients at once and slowly mix from 5 to 10 minutes, until completely incorporated.
Grab a ¼ of the dough and roll it on a lightly floured surface, stretching it out until you have a ¼-inch height, and cut into circles. Place on an unlined cookie sheet, no need to grease it. You can place the cookies close together, as they won’t spread when baking. Work your way through all the dough.
Bake for 10-12 minutes and don’t let them brown. Cool completely before filling.
Pipe dulce de leche on the underside of a cookie and sandwich using another cookie. Press together so the dulce de leche slightly seeps out. Place back in the cooling rack and diet with confectioner’s sugar.
The cookies will last for a week stored in an airtight container.

Have you made this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture with the hashtag #thefoodieskitchen!

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