Alfajores are soft, delicate shortbread cookies from South America made with cornflour. The cornflour gives the dough a smooth, silky texture to work with and produces a light, crumbly cookie. Sandwich creamy Dulce de Leche perfect to serve with strong coffee.
Serves: 15
Ingredients
150g corn flour
100g plain flour, plus more as needed for rolling out
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
125g unsalted butter, softened
70g cup caster sugar
2 egg yolks
Zest of 1 lime, grated
1 teaspoon pisco or brandy(optional)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dulce de leche, at room temperature
Icing sugar, for dusting
Method
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy and pale. Add egg yolks, lime zest, liquor (if using), and vanilla then mix well.
Shift plain flour, corn flour, baking powder and salt together. Add it to the butter mixture and combine well, then make into a soft dough by hands. Work quickly.
Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Roll out the dough to 5mm thick. Cut out 5cm rounds with a cookie cutter or a glass/cup. You should be able to cut out about 30 cookies. Place them on lined baking trays and chill for 20 minutes.
Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. The cookies are still soft to touch and pale in colour.
Leave to cool completely. Sandwich a teaspoon full of dulce de leche between two cookies.
