Alfajores

When Nick and I visited Buenos Aires this past summer, we fell in love with alfajores - dulce de leche cookies. On our last day, we picked up a giant jar of dulce de leche in the San Telmo neighborhood so that we could try making our own back in Chicago.  Nick beat me to it on a recent day off, and the results were amazing. These are without a doubt the best cookies I have ever eaten.  

Buenos Aires was a beautiful city that I hope to have the opportunity to visit again.  We ate delicious food, walked through charming neighborhoods and spent time with our awesome friends Peter, Pao and Arturo. I recently wrote a short article for Gapers Block about drinking in Argentina that I encourage you to read if you want to learn more about our trip (though I hope to post more on this site soon).

Nick's Alfajores

Ingredients

1 3/4 C flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
8 Tbl butter, at room temperature
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbl milk
15 oz dulce de leche*

Method

Combine flour, salt, sugar and baking soda in a bowl.  Mix in the butter and then work in the egg yolks, milk and vanilla. Shape the dough into two separate balls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for about two hours.

Preheat oven to 325F. Roll out each ball of dough on a slightly floured surface to a 1/4 inch thick. Cut using a two-inch cookie cutter and transfer cookies to baking sheets covered with silpat mats. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the tops of the cookies appear dry, but not so long that the cookies brown.

Allow the cookies to cool on a wire rack.  When cool, spread half the cookies with dulce de leche and top with the other half.  Serve with a café con leche for an irresistible treat.

A traditional way to serve the cookies is to roll the sides in shredded coconut.  We're not big coconut fans, so we left ours plain.

*We used dulce de leche that we brought back from Argentina.  Feel free to use store bought or make your own.  There are plenty of traditional recipes out there, but I was extremely intrigued to find this recipe from the lovely blog Not Without Salt that calls for simply cooking a can of condensed milk in boiling water.  Brilliant.

Comments

[Nishta]

yay! thanks, Nick for baking & Gemma for sharing. I have a friend who spent quite a bit of time in Argentina and still has cravings for all of the food. I'm going to make these to surprise him!

[Nishta]

follow-up...made these yesterday and WOW. getting rave reviews from friend & me (I had to save some for myself, right?). I used Not Without Salt's dulce de leche method and it was ridiculously easy & satisfying.

I sprinkled a little sea salt on the caramel before sandwiching & did go with toasted coconut because I am a fan. these would be perfect as the end to a Latin-themed dinner party and may even make my Christmas cookie plate this year.

thanks so much Gemma!

[ellen]

so good! a family friend from argentina always makes these around christmas! can't wait to try your recipe!

[JoLynn]

Ahhh my husband lived in Argentina for a period of time & loved it. We will try this recipe also.

[joe]

Wow.. I can't wait to make these, the picture looks really good too..

[Janine at Rustic Kitchen]

Lovely! My husband is from Uruguay, and at earlier this year we sent them home with our wedding guests:
http://www.rustickitchen.com/blog/?p=340
I think I might need to include them in my holiday baking.

[Gemma]

Hi Nishta, I am so glad they worked out well for you. I absolutely love these cookies and I'm glad Nick let me share them with everyone! I'm also glad to hear that the Not Without Salt method worked for you. That is the route we are going once our Argentine supply runs out. Sea salt is a brilliant idea! I may have to try that.

Thanks Ellen, I hope all is well. Let's get a drink soon!

Thanks, I hope they work well for you JoLynn, Joe and Janine!