Alfajores are South American-style cookies. These delicious biscuits/cookies are similar to a shortbread with their same buttery and crumbly texture. Traditionally these delicate cookies are rolled in desiccated coconut, however we love them simply filled with decadent dulce de leche.
I dare you to try and eat just one of these delicious cookies! I’d never tried or made Alfajores before sharing this blog post, so it was all new recipe territory for me.
I tried one straight from the oven I couldn’t believe how good it tasted even without the filling, however sandwiching two biscuits together with dulce de leche certainly takes these cookies to the next level.
Alfajores originate in South America. They’re a confectionary usually sold around Christmas, however they’re also very popular in bakeries all year round. The cookies are traditionally filled with dulce de leche. I used readymade, however you can make your own by simmering a can of sweetened condensed milk, but a speedy shortcut is always handy!
To decorate, the cookies are usually just dusted with icing sugar, but they can also be glazed with sugar, decorated with chocolate or grated/desiccated coconut.
Ingredients:
Shortbread Dough:
200g salted or unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
1 large free-range egg, at room temperature
1 large free-range egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt – ONLY add if you’re using unsalted butter
225g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
100g cornflour/cornstarch
Filling:
397g (14 ounce) can caramel / dulce de leche – you might not need the whole can depending on how much filling you like
Method:
- Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and pale in colour. Add the whole egg, yolk and vanilla and continue to mix until combined fully.
- Add the salt (only add if you’re using unsalted butter) and sift in the flours. Mix until a soft dough forms. Divide the dough into two pieces and wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes or until firm.
- Preheat oven to 190°C / 170°C Fan / 375°F / Gas Mark 5. Line 2-3 large baking trays with parchment paper.
- Lightly dust a work surface with flour and roll the dough out to approx. 0.5cm thickness. Using a 6cm cutter, stamp out biscuits until all the dough has been used up. Re-roll any trimmings. Place the biscuit rounds on the baking trays.
- Bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes until pale golden and sandy to the touch. Cool the biscuits on the baking trays for 5 minutes, then transport them to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, use the tin of caramel to sandwich the biscuits together. Dust the biscuits just before serving with icing sugar, roll the edges in desiccated coconut or even drizzle with melted chocolate.
Enjoy!Keep up to date with me on:
Like my Facebook page here
Instagram: @whatjessicabakednext
Twitter: @jessbakednext
Pinterest: @jessbakednext
These look amazing!
Thanks Dimple! 🙂
Yummmy!!!!!!!!!! Mouthwatering cookies!
Thank you! 🙂
Those are really gorgeous cookies I love Alfajores!
Thanks! Alfajores are really good! 🙂
Oh my goodness I just want to reach right through the screen and grab the whole batch of these!!!
Haha, thanks Chris! They’re all gone now- wish I’d made a few more! 🙂
It looks so yummy 🙂
Thank you 🙂
These look PERFECT. 🙂 Beautiful cookies and photos. What is better than dulce de leche combined with chocolate and a crumbly cookie?
Thanks Shanna! I know best combos ever! 🙂
Wow these look incredibly delicious. You are so right – caramel and chocolate is the perfect combination.
Thanks Josefine! Caramel and chocolate is the best! 🙂
That caramel and chocolate looks amazing! I definitely couldn’t stop at just one.
Thanks Christin! 🙂
I’ve wanted to try my hand at making these ever since someone brought them into work after going home to Peru. Love the chocolate drizzle.
Thanks Erin! You really must try the recipe, they’re now my favourite cookie! 🙂
Alfajores are so so tasty! These look amazing! 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
Simply gorgeous. ! I feel like reaching out to get one! 🙂
Thank you- they are pretty good! 🙂
🙂 🙂 Love the recipe. ! Will have to try this sometime.!
Really hope you do- they all got eaten straight away, so that’s a really good sign! Hope you enjoy, let me know how they go 🙂
I love shortbread, caramel, and chocolate, so I know I would love these cookies! 🙂
Thanks Nancy! 🙂
Ok there is no way one can stick to just one of these. Not with all that drizzle!!! And the crumbly cookies :)). Amazing!!
Thank you! 🙂
I’m drooling all over my keyboard here – could these look any more delish??? I guess not!
Thank you Consuelo! 🙂
Oh wow, shortbread is my all-time favourite and these are shortbread on crack! Pinned!
Thank you Anna! 🙂
The cookies are delicious. The kind you can crunch and crunch until the plate is empty. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Liz 🙂
I love trying out the specialities of other countries, Jessica, especially when they’re sandwiched with caramel and smothered in chocolate like these. They would make a fabulous gift!
Thank you Helen! 🙂
Oh my, these cookies look amazing. Definitely my kind of cookie. 😊
Thank you Julie! 🙂
These look tasty and really professional too!
So good, Jessica 🙂
Thanks Sam! 🙂
These cookies look amazing Jess! I love caramel and chocolate – I wouldn’t be able to stop at just one cookie either – love the drizzled chocolate – so pretty!
Thanks so much Kelly! 🙂
WOW! I love Dulce ANYTHING and these cookies look AMAZING!! Gorgeous photos too!! 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
Wow these look amazing! I’d be scared to make them because once they were done I think i’d eat the whole lot haha 🙂
Haha- I pretty much nearly ate them all! Really happy you like the recipe! 🙂
These look amazing!!!
Thank you Frances! 🙂
I’m loving everything about these beautiful cookies. Pinned.
Thank you 🙂
Oh man, I’ve been a sucker for dulce de leche for a long time now…and these look amazing!
Thanks David! Dulce de leche has always been a guilty pleasure of mine! Really happy you like the recipe 🙂
I have always wanted to make alfajores and now I want to even more! These look like gooey deliciousness!
Thanks Laura- you really should make Alfajores- delicious and so decadent! 🙂
Hi, Jess! I didn’t know this version of alfajores; here in Spain we also have a treat with this very same name but it’s totally another story! It’s great to widen one’s knowledge through people who you share the same interests with, don’t you think? 😉
Wow, these look absolutely amazing! I’m drooling over my laptop keyboard as I write this comment!
Thanks for sharing another great recipe and experience!
xxx
Hey Rosa, thanks for stopping by! It’s weird that the South American Alfajore cookie is totally different to the traditional Alfajor in Spain- looks like the Spanish version consists of honey and various different nuts? Really happy you like the recipe and thank you for your kind comments, always make my day! 🙂 xxx
I just want to get extra personal with these cookies! Goodness gracious, yum yum yum.
Thank you Pamela! They’re pretty addictive once you’ve tried one! 🙂
I love that second to last picture and how you drizzled without abandon! Love it!
Thanks Patty ! 🙂
Oh my goodness! These look beyond delicious. Love the drizzled chocolate!!
Thank you! 🙂
My children would definitely love these, especially when they’re drizzled with chocolates.
Thanks- everyone loves chocolate! 🙂
These look amazing!!! Drooling over here! love the drizzled chocolate on top.
Thank you Ashley! 🙂
As always these look completely stunning! I want some right NOW x
Thanks Trisha! Really happy you like the recipe and thanks for the kind words! 🙂 xx
These sound delicious! Mail me your leftovers? *wink*
Thanks Natalie! Would’ve done, but unfortunately there aren’t any! 🙂
I just made alfajores this past weekend and will be blogging about them soon, too! Great minds think alike 🙂 I like the idea of drizzling with chocolate!
Thanks Bianca! Aren’t Alfajores super delicious and have to agree great minds think alike! Drizzled with chocolate takes these delights to the next level! 🙂
Okay… These cookies look insane! I had to stop looking at them because I started to drool a bit, which is fine, but I was in public :/ Great recipe, and lovely pictures!!
Thank you! Really happy you think these are drool-worthy! Really happy you like the recipe and thanks for your kind comments! 🙂
Chocolate and caramel is such an awesome combination! These look out of this world!
Thank you Ashley! Really happy you like the recipe!
Beautiful!! I like the dulce de leche fillings and chocolate drizzles. So pretty!!
Thanks Nami! Chocolate and caramel always a good combo! 🙂
I have never heard of alfajores, but they look so pretty and you can’t go wrong with dulce de leche!
Thanks Gintare! 🙂
….MMM your cookies look amazing, I would love to eat a few of these right now! 🙂
If you like chocolate, check out my recent post, Hot Fudge Cake!
Michael
http://michaelswoodcraft.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/hot-fudge-sauce-chocolate-cake-and-ice-cream/
Hi Michael! Really happy you like the recipe! That chocolate fudge cake looks right up my street- and the sauce is undesirable! Super delicious recipe, glad I’ve found your blog! 🙂
Ooo, these are so pretty. I adore alfajores, thanks for sharing this recipe!
Thanks Joyti! 🙂
I’ll take 20, please! These look so gorgeous, Jess. My mouth is watering.
Thanks Ngan! Really happy you like the recipe! 🙂
Alfayores with dulce the leche. This is the apotheosis! I just need to find dulce de leche… It is not that easy here in London 🙁 and last time I made my “leche” uhm… disaster!
Hi Dani! It’s weird that you can’t easily find dulce de leche in the UK- I live just outside of London and I always use ready-made caramel (bit of a cheat!). I’m sure your dulce de leche wasn’t that bad! 🙂
Great cookies!
Thank you! 🙂
OH. MY. I had no idea what alfajores were until I tried one at a cafe and it rocked.my.world. So buttery and crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth DELICIOUS! I didn’t think I could achieve the same perfection at home but yours look awesome!! Definitely filing these away to make for an occasion where I will be forced to give them away…because otherwise I would eat them allllll 🙂
Hi Erika! I’d never had an Alfajores before making these! I have to say, homemade always taste better in my opinion! 🙂
These Alfayores look so scrumptious and utterly beautiful Jessica! You made them prettier then from a bakery 🙂
J+C
Thank you! Really kind compliments! 🙂
With the week I’m having, I can eat the plate of cookies I made and maybe a couple of plates of yours! These look super delicious!
Thank you! You’re right cookies are very addictive! 🙂
My mother-in-law is from Peru and we have these all the time at her place. Soooo yummy! What a great recipe!
Thanks Trish! You’re so lucky to get to eat Alfajores anytime ! 🙂
These look fabulous! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Norma- my pleasure, really happy you like the recipe! 🙂
I have been wanting to take a crack at Alfajores for so long now! Your version looks fantastic, love that drizzly chocolate! Pinning!
Thanks Allie- you really must give the recipe a go! 🙂