Alfajores: Dulce De Leche-Filled Butter Cookies From Argentina Recipe
Alfajores are a sweet treat staple in South America. This Argentinian-style recipe from the new cookbook Crumbs, a collection of treats from around the world compiled by food researcher Ben Mims, unpacks their origins and explains how to make them.
When you say the name of these cookies to most people, the Argentinian version is the one that comes to mind most commonly (although there are numerous country-specific iterations). Even within Argentina, these dulce de leche-filled cookie sandwiches can be found plain, rolled in coconut, coated in chocolate, or coated in meringue, like the Chilean chilenitos. The Spanish version from which this cookie takes its name is more like a candy or confection, made with almonds bound by honey and spices and coated in icing sugar. A regional variation of Spanish alfajore from Medina-Sedonia in southern Spain that stuffs the honey-nut mixture between two wafer cookies provides a possible link to how these sandwiches of dulce de leche-filled cookies gained their name over time.
The basic recipe mixes wheat flour with cornstarch (cornflour) to produce the fine texture of the cookies, while lemon zest and alcohol, usually Cognac or other brandy, spikes the cookies and cuts through their sweetness. The dulce de leche that fills these sandwiches, however, is not the typical kind you drizzle from a squeeze bottle. You need to look for dulce de leche repostero online and in Latin markets. It has the consistency of peanut butter and will stay put when sandwiched between the cookies. It’s also easy to make your own at home, if you have the time.
Crumbs: Cookies and Sweets from Around the World by Ben Mims, $80, published by Phaidon.
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