Party Alfajores

Luscious dulce de leche creme sandwiched between festive cookies is always a hit for a celebration.  Our Party Alfajores are no exception!

While plotting Chef Gina’s Love, Adventure, and Recipe Series, our test kitchen staff couldn’t resist looking ahead to Book 28, A Pueblos and Natillas Christmas.  In Book 28, Chef Gina finds herself in New Mexico developing Mexican-American Cuisine.

With the story unfolding over the Christmas holiday, our own party version of the cookie known as Alfajores seemed to be a good recipe to experiment with for possible inclusion in the book.

We discovered that there are variations of this cookie treat featured in Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. The cookies are biscuit-like relying on cornstarch as the main ingredient.  Mexico’s version often features the adornment of coconut along with a tri-color presentation of the cookie themselves.  We decided to honor Mexico’s version.

One thing we did different, though, was to add three different flavors to our three different colored cookies!  A yummy addition which resulted in three different versions of the cookie.

While focusing on mastering the cookies, we opted for a pre-made dulce de leche.  Dulce de leche is a caramelized cream.  

If you are feeling more adventurous, you could create your own by taking a can of sweetened condensed milk and putting it in a pot of water covering the can by about 2 inches.  

Bring the pot to a simmer and cook slowly for up to three hours.  You may have to add hot water as you go.  And please be careful if you try this technique. 

 Take care to prevent burns by adequately cooling before opening!  Although not done for this recipe, we have previously followed this method.  The result is a wonderful crème or topping.  Cook just over two hours for a thinner topping.

To make the cookies, sift together powdered sugar, cornstarch, baking soda, and baking powder.  Whisk in a whole egg, the yolk of an egg, vanilla, and butter.  Don’t be afraid to abandon the whisk to really get the butter worked into the dough.

We recommend rolling the dough out just slightly to make it easier to divide into three equal portions.

Take one of the three portions.  Form into a ball.  Use your thumb to create a well.  Add rum flavoring.  Then work the flavoring evenly into the dough ball.

Repeat with a second dough ball by adding coffee flavoring.

The vanilla flavoring, already added, will act as the flavor for the third dough ball and closely aligns with the traditional Alfajores flavor.

Since traditional Mexican Alfajores are known for using three colors, we added green (with a touch of blue), red and yellow (to create orange) and yellow food coloring to our individual dough balls.  Wear disposable gloves to prevent the coloring from staining your hands!

We worked the coloring into the dough until each had a marbleized appearance.  (We liked it better than a solid color).  Admittedly, there is a moment during this process when you may think that these are not the most appetizing colors.  But keep working them, it really comes together nicely!

Once satisfied with the colors, roll each dough ball into a flat ¼ inch thickness.  Grab your favorite biscuit cutter (we had a jar handy, we grabbed that) and cut out your cookies.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Cool.  Fill with cream.  Create a sandwich with the cookies.

In doing so, the cream will extend to the edge which you can decorate with festive and flavorful toppings.

• We used a birthday-confetti topping with the vanilla flavored cookies, mini chocolate morsels with the coffee flavored cookies, and coconut with the rum flavored cookies.

The result was truly a fun and flavorful treat that disappeared quickly when passed around – leaving crumbs in its wake!

*It would be easy to replace the cookie colors or toppings to fit your party or holiday theme.

 

 

 

 

Tri-Party Alfajores

• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 2/3 C Cornstarch
• 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
• ¼ Teaspoon Baking soda
• ½ Teaspoon Baking powder
• 3 ½ Tablespoon Butter (we added extra to hold together better)
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla (we added chocolate flavoring to a 1/3 of the batter & Rum to a 1/3 of the batter & left the vanilla for a birthday cake style)
• 1 Can Creamy Dulce de Leche for filling
• Decorations (we used small chocolate chips, coconut, and confetti)
• Food Coloring

 

Preheat oven to 350.  Generously grease cookie sheet and set aside.  Sift flour then whisk in cornstarch, powdered sugar, baking soda, and baking powder.   Add vanilla and or flavorings.  Work in butter (you may need to add butter if too dry).  Divide into sections – if adding different flavors can add at this point or different colors to dough.  Roll out to ¼ inch thick.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

 

WATCH THE VIDEO OF THIS RECIPE:

 

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