Variations on this elegant cookie can be found throughout Latin America, but alfajores are associated above all with the cafe culture of Buenos Aires. They’re served year-round with coffee, but during the holidays home cooks all over Argentina break out their trusted family recipes—each one unique but always with a decadent filling of dulce de leche sandwiched between two rounds of crisp butter cookie.
Alfajores (Dulce de Leche Cookie Sandwiches)
These decadent Latin American sweets are filled with dulce de leche and sandwiched between two rounds of crisp butter cookie.
Yield: makes 20
Ingredients
- 1 2⁄3 cups cornstarch
- 1 1⁄4 cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 2⁄3 cup sugar
- 10 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tbsp. cognac or brandy
- 1⁄2 tsp. lemon zest
- 4 egg yolks
- Canned dulce de leche, for filling cookies
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°. In a bowl, sift together cornstarch, flour, and baking powder; set aside. In a mixer fitted with a paddle, beat together sugar and butter until fluffy. Add cognac and zest; beat. Add yolks one at a time; beat. Add dry ingredients; mix. Transfer dough to a floured surface, knead briefly; divide into 3 pieces. Working with 1 dough piece at a time, roll dough to ¼” thickness. Using a 2½” round cookie cutter, cut out cookies; transfer to parchment paper–lined baking sheets, spaced 1″ apart. Reroll scraps and repeat. Bake until golden, 12–15 minutes. Let cool. Flip half the cookies over; top each with 1 heaping tsp. dulce de leche. Top with remaining cookies.