Food & Drink

Easy Homemade Alfajores

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Delicate, melt-in-your-mouth Alfajores are a conventional South American sandwich cookie. Brimming with creamy dulce de leche filling and rolled in coconut (or not), this straightforward alfajores recipe is one among my favorites for vacation baking. I simply know you’ll love them too!

Attempt my Instant Pot Dulce de Leche recipe for these cookies! It’s tremendous straightforward and executed in about 35 minutes from begin to end!

Alfajores cookies dusted with powdered sugar, filled with dulce de leche.

Basic Selfmade Alfajores Cookies

Among the best issues about cooking and baking is the flexibility to really feel such as you’re experiencing the delicacies of one other nation – within the consolation of your personal kitchen! Right this moment, we’re taking a visit to South America with these straightforward alfajores cookies, produced from scratch.

These sandwich cookies have critically scrumptious taste. They soften in your mouth due to a creamy dulce de leche filling and tender, shortbread cookie texture. Rolled in coconut, alfajores are a dreamy and straightforward cookie recipe that you simply’ll be coming again to repeatedly!

What Are Alfajores?

Alfajores – pronounced alfa-hor-ays – are a conventional cookie confection in style in South America, made with a dulce de leche filling and sometimes rolled in coconut. Primarily a wagon wheel cookie with a special type of filling, alfajores are additionally known as dulce de leche sandwich cookies. 

This recipe is for the normal ​​cornstarch shortbread alfajor, with sides coated in coconut.

Alfajores cookies dusted with powdered sugar, filled with dulce de leche.

Recipe Components

Right here is the checklist of substances you’ll want for this alfajores recipe. You’ll discover this can be a extra shortbread-style cookie with no eggs, egg yolks, or leavening agent like baking powder or baking soda. The total ingredient checklist and recipe may be discovered on the backside of this submit.

  • Dulce de Leche: For filling the sandwich cookies. Yow will discover jars of dulce de leche in most native supermarkets and delis, or you should use my straightforward recipe for homemade dulce de leche! You should utilize any leftovers to make different scrumptious recipes like these dulce de leche snack squares or swirled fudge.
  • Butter: Unsalted butter or salted butter can be utilized on this recipe. I used salted, however it’s a private choice.
  • Cornstarch: A needed ingredient for the cornstarch shortbread discs that make up these sandwich cookies.
  • All Objective Flour
  • Granulated Sugar
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Kosher Salt
  • Powdered Sugar: For dusting.

How you can Make Alfajores Cookies

These conventional cookies are surprisingly easy to organize and bake. There are solely a handful of steps:

Prep the Dough: First, cream the butter and granulated sugar collectively in a mixing bowl along with your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Then add the vanilla, salt, and cornstarch. Slowly add within the flour till mixed. 

Chill the Dough: You’ll must refrigerate the dough for a minimum of 2 hours, or in a single day. Divide the dough into halves and roll these into logs, then wrap every in plastic wrap earlier than inserting them within the fridge. Dividing the dough into two batches helps the dough keep agency if you’re slicing it later!

A log of chilled alfajores cookie dough sliced into quarter inch discs.

Reduce & Bake: Utilizing a pointy knife, slice the primary dough log into rounds a few quarter inch in thickness. Because of area constraints, you’ll have to chop and bake one log at a time! Place the dough rounds on a lined baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven till the sides are barely golden. Switch the baked cookies to a wire rack to chill and repeat with the second dough log as wanted. Alternately you would roll the dough out and use a small spherical cookie cutter to make completely spherical cookies.

Assemble: Rigorously unfold or pipe the dulce de leche onto one half the cookies, then press the opposite half of the cookies on prime of the filling, forming sandwiches. 

You can provide these alfajores a dusting with powdered sugar, get pleasure from them plain, or see my strategies beneath for variations and adorning!

A top view of a jar of dulce de leche with a spoon, surrounded by baked alfajores halves.

Ideas for Success

  • Measure Your Flour Accurately: An excessive amount of flour is the most typical mistake when baking. Use a scale you probably have one! When you don’t, you should use the “scoop and sweep” technique; spoon the flour into your measuring cup, and use a butter knife to stage it.
  • Make Your Personal Dulce de Leche: As talked about above, it’s straightforward to make your personal dulce de leche at dwelling by cooking down condensed milk. You’ll be able to even use my straightforward recipe for Instant Pot Dulce De Leche to save lots of effort and time!
  • Keep away from Overfilling: These are tender and delicate cookies, so bear this in thoughts when filling them and keep away from loading on an excessive amount of dulce de leche.
An open faced alfajor cookie with a spoonful of dulce de leche filling.

Variation Concepts

It’s frequent follow to roll Alfajores cookies in shredded coconut or desiccated coconut. It isn’t obligatory, however it’s scrumptious! You may also dip them in chocolate or in any other case adorn them to your liking. Whereas switching out the dulce de leche will not make these cookies “alfajores” by definition, you may undoubtedly attempt these cookies with totally different fillings. Listed here are some concepts:

  • Chocolate ganache
  • Fruit jams or berry coulis
  • Buttercream icing
  • Salted caramel
  • Add a little bit lemon zest to the cookie it self in the event you like a citrus chew!
Alfajores cookies dusted with powdered sugar, filled with dulce de leche.

How you can Retailer Alfajores

Alfajores may be saved hermetic at room temperature for as much as 5 days. When you’ve rolled them in coconut, you may stack them vertically (much like Oreo cookies) after which roll them in parchment paper to guard and retailer them.

Can I Freeze These?

​​Selfmade alfajores may be saved in an hermetic freezer secure container and saved frozen for as much as 30 days. Thaw the cookies at room temperature earlier than serving.

Extra Straightforward Christmas Cookies

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Straightforward Selfmade Alfajores

Alfajores cookies dusted with powdered sugar, filled with dulce de leche.


Description:

Delicate and scrumptious Alfajores are a conventional South American sandwich cookie. Brimming with creamy dulce de leche filling and rolled in coconut (or not), this straightforward alfajores recipe is one among my favorites for vacation baking.



Scale

Components:

  • 1 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 2 cups all goal flour
  • 1 (11.5 ounce) jar dulce de leche
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

Prep and chill the dough:

  1. Cream butter and sugar. Within the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle combine the butter and granulated sugar collectively on medium pace for two minutes till mixed.
  2. Add within the vanilla, salt, and cornstarch. Combine till evenly integrated, scraping the edges of the bowl as needed. 
  3. Add flour. Flip the mixer to low and slowly add within the flour till mixed.
  4. Divide the dough in half and roll into logs 2- inches in diameter. Wrap every in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours, or in a single day.

Bake:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and put aside. 
  2. Take away one of many dough logs from the fridge. Utilizing a pointy knife, slice into 1/4- inch rounds. 
  3. Place on the ready baking sheet 1- inch aside (the cookies don’t unfold whereas baking). Bake for 8 – 10 minutes till the sides are barely golden. Switch to a wire rack to chill fully. Repeat with the remaining dough. Permit the cookies to chill fully.

Assemble:

  1. Unfold or pipe 1 teaspoon of dulce de leche onto the underside facet of half the cookies. Press the opposite half of the cookies on prime of every, forming sandwiches. 
  2. Mud with powdered sugar.

Notes:

Retailer hermetic at room temperature for as much as 5 days. 

Freeze hermetic for as much as 30 days. Thaw at room temperature.

Key phrases: alfajores cookies, christmas cookies, sandwich cookies

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