What Is Alfajores?
Alfajores are very famous sweet snacks in Argentina. There are variety types of alfajores and the ones that I made for this video are cornstarch alfajores or also known as “Alfajores de maicena”. They are basically soft crumbly cookies sandwiched together with dulce de leche as the filling.
The cookies are made from cornstarch and all purpose flour, well amongst other ingredients but the combination of the flour is what makes the texture of the cookies so soft and crumbly.
Of all the types of alfajores that I’ve tried, I love the cornstarch alfajores the best.
The Cornstarch Cookies
As I mentioned earlier, I used cornstarch and all purpose flour to make these cookies. Try to use the best quality butter that you can find because it all matters. Making the cookies is not difficult at all but there are several things to bear in mind.
One is, do not overwork the dough. As you can see in the video, at one time I couldn’t use my hand mixer to properly mix the dough. That was when I simply poured everything on my working surface. Then I used my palm to gently push the dough. Then I kind of fold everything and repeat pushing the dough with my palm until everything comes together.
For me, I noticed that this way I don’t overwork the dough and the cookies come out super soft, exactly the way we like them.
Second is, do not over bake the cookies. The cookies are supposed to be white even after baking. They’re not supposed to have any toasted color on them. Not on the top nor on the bottom of the cookies.
Third is, don’t roll and cut out the dough too thick nor too thin. Nice measurement would be between 5-10 mm.
Fourth is, use bakers dulce de leche as the filling. Never use regular dulce de leche because the texture is too soft to hold the shape of alfajores. In time it will make your cookies slide and the filling oozing out. You wouldn’t want that. Meanwhile bakers dulce de leche is firmer and hold the shape perfectly.
Last one, try to pipe the filling as the same thickness of the cookies. The filling should not be too little until all you can taste is the cookies. It should not be too much either that when you bite on the alfajores, the filling starts to fall.
The Dulce De Leche Filling
Well as I mentioned earlier, the filling for these alfajores is dulce de leche. That’s what makes these cookies so delicious and decadent. That sweet creamy milky caramel taste of dulce de leche.
I did mention also that when you make these alfajores, use bakers dulce de leche. The texture is firmer, thicker and it will hold both of the cookies together perfectly.
Ok I will tell you one thing that I noticed. When I make my own dulce de leche using a can of condensed milk, I realised that the texture and the firmness of it is almost the same as store bought bakers dulce de leche.
More when you store the homemade dulce de leche in the fridge overnight. So if you’re having difficulties finding bakers dulce de leche, you can try making your own version.
Ok. Let’s continue. So after you have filled and sandwiched all your cookies, roll them in coconut flakes. Roll them good, covering all the dulce de leche.
My mother in law says that they are best eaten the next day. Well I can’t wait that long! When we were filming this video, I was eating them between piping the filling and rolling in the coconut flakes.
I hope you enjoy them as much as my family and I do. Happy baking!
More Dulce de Leche Recipes
- Dulce de leche cones
- Coconut & dulce de leche tart
- 2-Ingredient dulce de leche ice cream (without machine)
- Ricotta pie with dulce de leche
- Churros filled with dulce de leche
Video
Classic Argentine Alfajores
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cup corn starch (300 g), use spoon and level method
- 1 ½ gr all purpose flour (200 g)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 ¼ cup icing sugar (150 g), sifted
- 7 oz unsalted butter (200 g), soften
- 3 large egg yolks , room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of 1 medium sized lemon
- bakery dulce de leche , as needed for the filling
Instructions
- On a bowl, sift together corn starch flour, all purpose flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add in icing sugar and soften butter. Mix until creamy. Add in egg yolk one by one, mixing well to combine after each addition. Add in vanilla extract, lemon zest and mix to combine.
- Add in sifted flour mixture in 3 additions. Mix just until combine after each addition. For the 3rd addition, you will not be able to mix everything to combine using hand held mixer. When it's half mixed, pour the whole mixture onto the working surface. Start folding the mixture onto itself and gently push the mixture with your palm. Repeat the process until the mixture becomes a dough. Do not knead. Refer to the video for better understanding for this part.
- Wrap the dough with cling film and leave it to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Work with ⅓ of dough at a time to prevent the rest of dough comes to room temperature. Put ⅓ of dough on a cling film and cover it with another. Gently roll it into 8-10mm thickness. If the dough breaks, don't worry just gently push it back together. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes while you continue rolling the rest of the dough.
- Take 1 piece of rolled dough from the fridge and place it on the working surface. Remove the top cling film. Cut out circles using a 4.5 cm diameter glass. I used champagne glass. Flour the mouth of the glass to prevent the dough sticking to it.
- Using a flat spatula, remove the circles onto a baking tray that has been greased and floured before hand. If you're going to cut out circles for the rest of the dough before baking them, place the already cut out circles on baking tray in the fridge.
- Bake at 180ºC (360ºF) in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until fully cooked without the cookies having any toasted color. Cool in a rack completely.
- To assemble the alfajores, take one cookie, bottom facing up and pipe dulce de leche on it, preferably the same height as the cookie. Normal dulce de leche can be used but it doesn't hold as good. Take another cookie and put on top of the dulce de leche, bottom facing down and lightly press. Take the sandwiched cookies and roll its side in coconut flakes, with the intention of covering the dulce de leche. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. Enjoy!
I had several recipes of alfajores to try, this one was my first try, and I’ll stop here! Simply delicious, it was perfect! My friends just loved it! Funny because I used the orange zest ( like it said on the video), even though it wasn’t the right one it tasted so good, friends loved the slight orange taste in it! Next time I’ll use lemon, I guess you can’t go wrong with it! Thanks for sharing, it was delicious!
Oh that's great! I'm glad that you and your friends liked it anyways Liliane! Hope you'll like it too with lemon next time. Thank you for your feedback!
Hi! I just love alfajores, thanks for sharing this recipe. I have a question, on the video it says zest of a medium lemon, on the written recipe it says zest if a medium orange. Which one is right?
Hi Liliane! Sorry for the typo, it's supposed to be lemon, just like in the video. I've corrected it, thanks for pointing it out!
I made it, but it isn't like the video, it isn't was soft and crumble.
AMAZING! My girlfriend, who is from Argentina, and I tried this recipe this week. We both love it. And believe me when it comes down to Alfajores and Dulce de Leche, she is really picky. We made the Dulce de Leche ourselves by boiling a can of condensed milk.
Next week we are going to try to make your pionono recipe!
That's great! Yes, you can never argue about alfajores and dulce de leche with an Argentine (I know because my husband is Argentine too, haha!). I'm glad you both liked it, and have fun with the pionono! Thank you!
I love this recipe. Today I'm making for the second time just for me. The first time, I had promised to take to work and I kept only a few in my house. Now I'm making it again just for us. Thanks for sharing.
That's awesome, I'm happy that everybody liked them! Yes, make extra batch 😀 Thank you Sonia!
I use 3 eggs for half of this recipe, and they come out delicious. You think adding 6 is too much if I make this recipe with 6? It just makes the doughy more manageable.
Hi! I haven't tried it with 6 yolks but if you liked how it turned out with 3, then why not right? 🙂
Bien
Muchas gracias!
It was my first time making alfajores. I'm from Brazil and although alfajores are not Brazilian food, it's easier to find there than in America. I was a little nervous about it, but it came out perfect. The cookies come out very soft and you have to be very careful when pressing the two cookies after filling the bottom with dulce de leche. If not handled carefully, it will break. It will still taste great, but it's better looking not broken in the surface. I wouldn't change a thing. It was nice watching the movie, so I processed the dough without kneading. Going to make them again, definitely! Gracias for sharing!
Yes, you're right. It's easier to find it here in Spain also (thank God!). I'm so happy to know that you loved it. I'm not that much into sweet but I LOVE alfajores 😀 . Thank you so much Sonia!
I just made these from your recipe. WOW. The cookies are so delicate mixed this way ( consistency was perfect for me it stuck) and I even made the dulce de leche as you say for 3 hours in the can. I have had these cookies before but these are better. I resisted and had only one, will wait till tomorrow.
Hi Evelyne! Wow you also made the dulce de leche from scratch? That's awesome! Yes, homemade cookies are better, right? I'm so happy to know that you like them. My husband and his family are Argentine so I learnt the tips and tricks to make these lovely cookies from them. Enjoy your alfajores and thank you Evelyne! 🙂
Hi there,
I had trouble getting the dough to stick together, I found the ratio of flour to butter and egg really difficult to manage. So I added a couple of tablespoons of water... hopefully they still taste good.
Hi Mai Le! Sorry to hear that you had trouble working with the dough. One question, did you work it with your hands at the point like I did in the video? That's important because the heat from your hands will soften the butter and help the dough to come together. Also keep in mind this is not like a bread dough, it is a crumbly type of dough. Anyways, I don't think the water will affect the taste, hope you enjoy them!