Alfajores

Ingredients

• Cornflour300 g
• Flour200 g
• Butter200 g
• Icing sugar150 g
• Egg yolks3
• Baking powder1 tsp
• Lemon zest1
• Vanilla1 tsp
• Brandy1 tbsp
• Dulce de leche500 g
• Desiccated coconut100 g
• Salt1 pinch

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Beat the softened butter with the icing sugar until pale, about four minutes.

   6 min

2. 2

   Add the yolks one at a time, then the vanilla, zest and brandy.

   5 min

3. 3

   Sift the cornflour with the flour, baking powder and salt and fold it in without long working.

   6 min

4. 4

   Wrap the dough in film and refrigerate it an hour.

   62 min

5. 5

   Roll it half a centimetre thick and cut four-centimetre rounds.

   20 min

6. 6

   Bake at 170 °C for twelve minutes; the biscuits should stay pale, with only the underside going golden.

   15 min

7. 7

   Cool them completely, sandwich them in pairs with dulce de leche and roll the sides in coconut.

   20 min

About the dish

There is more cornflour than wheat flour in the dough. That is what gives the crumb that dissolves in the mouth rather than chewing — flour alone makes an ordinary biscuit.

The dough is chilled at least an hour and worked fast. Warm, it crumbles as you cut it and no neat rounds come out of it.

The dulce de leche has to be the thick pastry grade rather than the spreadable kind. A runny one escapes from between the biscuits within an hour and turns them into a sticky mess.

Worth knowing

• — The biscuits must not brown. A golden alfajor is overbaked and its crumb is already gone.
• — Assemble only when completely cold. A warm biscuit softens under the dulce de leche and breaks as you roll it.
• — Alfajores are better on the second day. The biscuits take up a little moisture from the filling and the texture evens out.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

420 kcal

Protein

5 g

Fat

20 g

Carbs

56 g

More from Argentina

• Argentinian empanadas — Pastries of chopped beef, onion and egg. The filling is chilled cold, or the dough will not seal.
• Chimichurri — A sauce of parsley, oregano, garlic and vinegar. A knife rather than a blender: texture matters more than smoothness.
• Asado — Beef on a grate over wood embers, for hours, with nothing but coarse salt.