Alfajores

A couple years ago, Sarah and I were using spare time before our evening event by taking a stroll through the Ferry Building in San Francisco, CA. The Ferry Building is full of incredible shops and stalls where you can get anything from ice cream topped with olive oil to pork bao. As we are known to do, we slowly moved through the vendors trying almost everything to the point of near incapacitation. Eventually as we were giving up on our one bite here, two bites there policy, Sarah exclaimed “there they are!” As she is quite the expert at local delicacies, this was not the first time this was heard on this trek. I at this point had stuffed myself so assiduously that another “must try” item had lost its excitement. I begrudgingly turned around and saw a quaint unassuming counter. A small glass case on the counter was scrawled with polite letters stating they were selling alfajores.

I had been hearing about alfajores for years as they are a regular at family celebrations for a close friend of the Erbe family. Sarah would constantly rave about these mysterious cookies and so when they arrived at the end of our Ferry Building trek, I caved and risked the discomfort. Immediately I understood her obsession. These cookies were something different, something special. Simply put they are vanilla scented buttery cookies sandwiched with Dulce de leche and coated liberally with powdered sugar. We tried every offering including a chocolate coated version, coconut rolled version, and the plain powdered sugar version. Although all incredible, the classic version was just perfect. The combination of the lighter than air cookie and the deeply flavored Dulce de leche had me determined to recreate at home.

Alfajores have versions in various countries across the world but our recipe is decidedly Peruvian. They have all the satisfying butter flavor and crumbly texture of a shortbread but somehow lighter and more delicate than its Scottish cousin. This is due to the addition of cornstarch which lightens the dough without losing its integrity.  They are sandwiched lovingly with homemade Dulce du leche and sprinkled with powdered sugar. As the dough holds its shape while baked, it takes well to shaped cutters which we take full advantage of with this scalloped heart shape. They can be cut into any shape you like though and taste just as delicious no matter what they look like. Below we walk through how to make your own Dulce du leche at home but if you don’t have the time to make your own, store bought is fine. We do find making it at home gives you more control over quality, flavor, and texture making it worth the time if possible. We hope these cookies bring as much love to you and yours as they little hearts do for us.

Ingredients

2 Sticks Unsalted butter Softened at room temperature

2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar

4 Egg Yolks

1 tsp Vanilla

1 ½ Cup Cornstarch

1 2/3 Cup All Purpose Flower

¼ tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

Powdered sugar to dust

14 oz. Dulce de Leche (Store bought or homemade)

Directions

1.      Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until combined and lightened about 2-3 minutes. Begin to add egg yolks one at a time incorporating each fully before adding the next. Add vanilla and combine.

2.      Sift the cornstarch, flower, baking powder, and salt into a separate bowl to combine and eliminate any clumps. Add dry ingredients to the butter/egg mixture and beat until just combined. Don’t over mix.

3.      Tip out mixture onto a flowered surface and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic and place refrigerate for an hour or more.

4.      Preheat oven to 350 F. Bring dough out of the refrigerator and place on a lightly flowered surface. Using a rolling pin, roll dough until it is ¼ inch thick. Utilizing the cutter of your choice, cut shapes out of the dough and place cut cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Continue until all of the dough is cut out. The scraps can be combined, re-rolled, and cut until all the dough is gone.

5.      Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes checking at 10 minutes for doneness. The cookies should be firm in the center but shouldn’t be browning too extensively. Browned cookies are less tender.

6.      Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

7.      Once cooled, using a piping bag, pipe a layer of Dulce de leche on one side of the cookie and then cover with another creating a sandwich. Sift powdered sugar over the top of the completed cookies and serve.

Dulce de Leche

1.      Take 14 oz. cans of store bought sweetened condensed milk (we usually do multiple cans at a time) and place in a large stockpot. Cover with cold water so that the top of the cans are covered by 2-3 inches of water.

2.      Bring the water to a boil on high. Reduce the temperature to medium low and simmer the cans for 3 hours making sure to top off the water periodically to ensure that they remain submerged.

3.      After 3 hours remove from the heat and allow the cans to cool in the liquid. DO NOT OPEN THE CANS WHEN HOT. The cans must be cooled completely before they are opened.

4.      Once cooled and ready to use, open with a can opener and use as needed.

*For the alfajores we wanted our Dulce de leche to be thick enough to hold its shape and our homemade version was too thin. To achieve this we took the boiled Dulce de leche and poured it out of the can into a sauce pan. We cooked it over medium heat stirring constantly until thickened.