Sorry I had to abandon everyone for a while but I'm here now! :) One thing I love about myself is my culture. My family comes from Argentina and one of the great things I love about this beautiful country is the food. I tried a great recipe for "Alfajores" which is basically a cookie sandwich with a dulce de leche (caramel) filling. Alfajores is a traditional confectioner in Argentina and in various other countries in South America. The original recipe is in Spanish and measured with the metric system so my conversions are not exact. Still turns out great so no worries. : )
INGREDIENTS:
7 oz. butter
6.5 oz. powdered sugar
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tbl. vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon zest
7.5 oz. flour
400 grams cornstarch -> (a little under 16 oz.)
I tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
FILLING:
Dulce de Leche (Caramel)
Coconut shavings
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees. In a bowl, beat together the butter and powdered sugar until well combined and soft.
2. One by one, add the eggs and egg yolks.
3. Once the eggs are added, combine the lemon zest and vanilla extract.
4. Add all of the dry ingredients remaining, little by little, and blend together. I used a MIXER to help combine it faster and then finished off with a spatula so that the mixture begins to form into a ball and not remain liquid.
5. Once the mixture is completely blended together and formed into a ball, let it rest and cool in the refrigerator for about an hour.
6. After the dough has cooled, use a roller and stretch it out on a floured work space to be able to cut little circles out of the dough. ( Make sure the dough is not stretched out too thin or too thick, thin cookies will burn and if they are too thick it will take longer to cook).
Tip: If you don't have a cookie cutter you can use any small round shape to cut them out. I used a small shot glass to shape my cookie.
7. In a lightly greased pan, bake in the oven for about 8-10 minutes. The cookie will come out white! Don't panic, that's the perfect color.
8. After the cookies have cooled down, fill the sandwiches with dulce de leche and roll the sides on coconut shavings.
9. Sprinkle some powdered sugar on the top and there you have some soft and delicious ALFAJORES !
