An alfajor is a sweet treat similar to a sandwich cookie. Depending on the regional recipe, the cookie can be more or less moist, like cake, or harder like a biscuit. The filling ranges from dulce de leche to fruit preserve to meringue and they’re covered in chocolate or icing or dusted with confectioner’s sugar.
My mission was to make alfajores de maizena -Maizena is a traditional brand of corn starch and a household name in Argentina,- and since they happen to be my favourite kind of alfajor, I was more than happy to oblige. I made those alfajores for a dinner party my hubby and I threw in our Dallas home and got our American and British friends hooked on those little treats.
What you need
- 5 oz (150 g) softened butter
- 7 oz (200 g) sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- 3.5 oz (100 g) flour
- 10.5 oz (300 g) corn starch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp Cognac
- 1 jar dulce de leche
- Shredded coconut
How you make them
Beat the softened butter with the sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and the egg and beat well.
Sift together the flour, corn starch and baking soda and gradually add to the butter and egg mixture.
Add the lemon zest and liqueur and mix until the dough is smooth.
Sprinkle some flour on a work surface and start rolling out the dough to about ¼ inch thick.
Cut 2 inch rounds of dough and place on a cookie sheet (I did not grease it).
Bake in a preheated 300 ̊F oven for about 12 minutes. Don’t let the cookies turn golden.
Transfer to a cooling rack.
Once they’re cold, sandwich two cookies at a time with a dollop of dulce de leche. Press ever so slightly so that the dulce de leche oozes out and roll each sandwich on shredded coconut.
Recipe notes
- This recipe yielded 40 alfajores.
- I used a jar and a half of store-bought dulce de leche (actually, I smuggled it into the U.S. Shhhh!)
- I used some of my hubby’s 1974 Armagnac. Good quality booze equalled tastier treats.
Ana Travels and Writes 
Does your husband know you used his expensive cognac to make the alfajores? 😀
For me the challenge with alfajores de maicena alwas is to spread the dulce de leche without breaking up the cookies!
They look delicious, Ana!!
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Yes, he handed me the bottle himself 🙂
Your alfajores look really yummy too.
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Glad to hear that you’re spreading alfajor love around the US! Lovely doing a group post with you 🙂
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It feels good to share my culture with my foreign friends. Here’s to more group posts!
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I love the way alfajores de maizena just sort of melt in your mouth. I bet they’re extra good with a touch of that fancy cognac! Yours look scrumptious, Ana.
Thank you so much for taking up the alfajor challenge. I had a great time with this group post.
By the way, I’m alerting the authorities to that contraband dulce de leche! 😉
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If you alert them, they won’t find any evidence of it ever been there. So there!
It was a lot of fun taking part in this group post, thanks for organizing it.
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I’m just bitter because they confiscated a jar of dulce de leche from me once that I’d just bought in the airport gift shop! lol
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These look riquisimo! Love the addition of the cognac, Guillermo would love these…
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Thnaks. Cognac gives them a certain je ne sais quoi 🙂
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Your cookies looks delicious!! Now, please send some over 🙂
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We ate all of them, sorry 🙂
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Excelente receta… ya la probaremos!! REalmente MUY tentadoras las fotos, se me hace agua la boca!!! Felicitaciones! 😛
Claudia Gibson
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Gracias Claudia!
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I made them and the dough came out too soft. I had to add flour, about 3/4 cup (or even 1 – not sure). But they turned out great and my Argentinean family loved them. Btw, I didn’t have cognac, nor vanilla (that I was going to replace it with) still, they came out tasty just like the ones I ate from an Argentinean coffee shop.
Thanks!
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I’m so glad that they turned out well and that your family loved them. If you sent me a photo, I could upload it to my Facebook page so you can show off 🙂
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You got it! I just put it on your fb page 🙂
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Hola Ana, este fin de semana pruebo tu receta, porque despues de casi 40 años desaparecio mi librito de Maizena, que tonta nunca le saque copia, lo habia “heredado” de una amiga argentina. Ya te cuento como me quedaron, los vendere para reunir fondos para mi pais que es tan azotado por los terremotos. Gracias y saludos, Ester.
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Entonces espero que te salgan el doble de ricos. Avisame si se puede difundir algo en redes sociales. Buena suerte!
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