“Alfajores” are shortbread cookies with a “dulce de leche” filling. This recipe comes from Argentina,and it is nowadays widespread and appreciated all over Brazil.
Ingredients
For the dough:
• 500 g corn starch, approximately
• 1 teaspoon baking powder or baking soda
• 200 g sugar
• 200 g softened butter
• 1 large egg
• 2 egg yolks
For the filling:
• 500 g dulce de leche (milk caramel sauce)
For the icing:
• 350 g powdered sugar
• 100 ml milk, approximately
Preparation method
For the pastry:
- Whisk the softened butter, sugar and eggs together in a large bowl.
- Sift the flour and baking powder together, then gradually add into the mixture, mixing with a spatula. Then continue mixing by hand, without overworking the pastry, until it has an even consistency.
- Wrap the pastry in plastic food film and let it stand in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out the pastry between two sheets of grease-proof paper (lightly sprinkle parchment proof with corn starch) to 3 – 5 mm thickness.
- Cut out discs 4-5 cm in diameter (about 80 cookies) and lay them on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at medium-high temperature (180°C) until just lightly golden brown around the edges, it takes 10 – 12 minutes.
For for the filling:
If you don’t have “dulce de leche” you can make it from sweetened condensed milk. Learn how to make it by clicking here.
For the icing:
Prepare the icing just before you start to coat the “alfajores”. In a stainless steel bowl (or in a little pan) over a pan of simmering water (bain-marie), melt the powdered sugar and the milk (add the milk a little at a time), stirring constantly. To check the consistency of the icing dip a spoon into the icing and lift it out again – the icing should thinly coat the spoon. Add more milk if needed to reach desired consistency.
To assemble “alfajores”:
- Spread a generous layer of “dulce de leche” on the flat side of a cookie and sandwich together with another cookie.
- Dip the “alfajores” in the glaze (use a two-pronged fork). Allow the glaze excess to drip off, place them on parchment paper and let dry until completely hard. You can also use a knife or a pastry brush to spread the icing on “sandwiches”.
- Place the cookies in a closed container and store at room temperature.
Yeld: about 40 “alfajores”
Posted on: 07 November 2014
I’m an architect. I was born in Brazil and my father was Italian.