Alfajores
Lovely light cookies with just a touch of cognac or pisco, the South American brandy.
Serve these delicate cookies with coffee or an herbal tea as a light dessert or a delicious afternoon treat. Do not be alarmed by the amount of cornstarch. It’s a traditional cookie ingredient and makes them very tender and delicate. Pisco (PEE-skoh) is a South American brandy often made from muscat wine. Rather than making the filling, you can use canned dulce de leche instead.
Serves: 27
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ShareIngredients (14)
- Filling:
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk, unopened
- Cookies:
- 11 tablespoon (1 1/3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon pisco or cognac (optional)
- 1 teaspoon grated lime rind
- Juice of 1/2 lime
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup cornstarch, sifted
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions
- To prepare filling, fill a large saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Remove label from can of condensed milk. Shake can well and place, unopened, in water. Always keeping the water level above the can, boil 3 hours. Remove can from saucepan using tongs. Let cool before opening. Milk will be a beautiful caramel color.
- While filling cooks and cools, prepare cookie dough. Beat butter with a mixer at medium-high speed until fluffy. Add sugar and salt; beat well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well until incorporated. Add pisco, lime rind, lime juice and vanilla; beat well.
- Combine cornstarch, flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Scrape butter mixture into flour mixture. Using a wooden spoon, mix until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
- Divide dough into thirds. Place 2 portions of the dough back in refrigerator to keep cool, and place remaining portion on a board or Silpat mat dusted with cornstarch.
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Roll dough to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Using a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut dough into 18 rounds. Gently transfer rounds to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies start to brown around the edges. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Cool cookies completely. Spread about 2 teaspoons of caramel filling on half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies to create a sandwich. Dust liberally with powdered sugar before serving.