How to Make Alfajores | shortbread cookies with caramel | Recipe from Latin America ❤️

butter

🥗Healthier: coconut oil

💰Cheaper: margarine

Coconut oil adds a unique flavor and is dairy-free.

dulce de leche

🥗Healthier: caramel sauce

💰Cheaper: sweetened condensed milk

Caramel sauce can mimic the flavor, while sweetened condensed milk is more accessible.

Cream together butter and sugar until well combined.

Add egg yolk, vanilla, and lemon zest to the butter mixture and mix well, scraping down the sides as needed.

Sift in all-purpose flour, cornstarch, and baking powder into the mixture.

Mix with a stand mixer until combined, then switch to mixing by hand if necessary.

If the dough is crumbly, add water a little at a time until it comes together into a ball.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.

Massage the chilled dough before rolling it out.

Roll out the dough using a wine bottle or rolling pin to about 1/4 inch thickness.

Cut out cookie rounds using a cookie cutter or a glass.

Re-roll any leftover dough and continue cutting out cookies until all dough is used, yielding about 20 cookies.

Place the cookie rounds on a baking sheet, keeping them close together since they don't spread.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, watching closely as they do not change color significantly.

Once baked and cooled, fill one side of each cookie with dulce de leche and sandwich with another cookie.

Dust the filled cookies with powdered sugar before serving.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level:

Dietary

Allergens