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You are here: Home / Desserts / Classic Argentinian Alfajores Cookies

Desserts

Classic Argentinian Alfajores Cookies

The traditional Argentinian cookies, the Alfajores, luscious dulce de leche are sandwiched between two buttery, crumbly cookies and rolled in shredded coconut. Perfect to accompany your afternoon espresso! 

Alfajores-Dulce de Leche

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Today, I’m excited to share the recipe for this time-honored Argentinian recipe: the Alfajor (pronounced al-fah-hor) cookie. Straight from Argentina, this recipe comes via my best friend’s mother, Susana. Born and raised in Cordoba, Susana ate her fair share of these delicate sandwich cookies and generously shared her family recipe with us.

Alfajores stacked before being filled

These cookies are cornstarch-based, creating a very delicate and melt-in-your-mouth treat. The dough is crumbly due to the lack of liquids in it, but comes together nicely.

Alfajores1

Generously filled with dulce de leche, a confection that’s luscious and sweet, true alfajor fans wait a day or two to consume them. They slightly soften after being sandwiched, lending to their familiar texture. Dulce de leche can be bought in cans, the most familiar brand, Nestle La Lechera, is most commonly found in the international or baking aisle of your local store.

Stack of Alfajores

Can’t find dulce de leche? You can make your own by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk for a couple hours. The slow, simmering water softly cooks the condensed milk into a deep, rich dulce de leche. Another great substitute is cajeta, which is dulce de leche made with goat’s milk instead of cow’s milk. Our favorite brand of cajeta is Fat Toad Farm! Bakers Royale has an oven method of making dulce de leche, worth checking out. 

Dulce de Leche filling for Alfajores

Alfajores Argentinos

You can find a variety of these cookies all over Latin America, in countries like Paraguay, Uruguay, and specially Argentina. Local grocery stores, shops, and gift boutiques always have a stock of these special cookies (or so they say, since I’ve never been to any of these countries!)

Alfajores de Argentina Alfajores Rellenos de Dulce de Leche

Give these sandwich cookies a try, you’ll be surprised at how delicious they are. Slightly sweet, they’re perfect with your coffee or as an addition to a dessert table. Sprinkling them with powdered sugar is a classic way to serve them and adds a touch more of sweetness. Thanks again to Maria and her mom, Susana, for graciously sharing this recipe!

 

Print
Classic Argentinian Alfajores Cookies

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Yield: 30 medium sandwich cookies, depending on size

Dulce de leche sandwich cookies, traditionally called Alfajores, are a staple in Argentinian bakeries and households.

Ingredients

  • 200 grams all-purpose, unbleached flour
  • 300 grams cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 200 grams unsalted butter, softened
  • 150 grams granulated sugar
  • 3 large egg yolks, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lime zest
  • 13 ounce can dulce de leche
  • 1 cup shredded coconut

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 325F.
  2. Sift flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
  3. Make sure your butter is very soft! Not melted, not warm, just perfectly soft. This will achieve the dough texture we need. Cream the soft butter and sugar for 5 minutes.
  4. Add egg yolks, vanilla extract, and lime zest.
  5. Add all the dry ingredients at once and mix until completely incorporated.*
  6. Roll dough out (in portions so it's easier to work with) on a lightly floured surface**, to a 1/4 inch and cut into circles. Place on an unlined cookie sheet, no need to grease it. Also, you can place cookies pretty close together - they won't spread at all, so make sure you're cutting them out the size you're going to want the baked cookie to be.
  7. Bake for 10-12 minutes and don't let them brown. Cool before filling.
  8. Slather or pipe dulce de leche on the underside of a cookie and sandwich using another cookie. Press together so the dulce de leche slightly seeps out and roll the edges in shredded coconut.
  9. Store in an airtight container.

Notes

*Note: You'll think that it's never going to incorporate, you're going to want to add some water - don't! Let it mix for a good 5 to 10 minutes and I promise, it will come together. **Note: If you can roll out the dough with NO flour at all, even better. When working quickly with this dry dough, you will only need to flour your rolling pin, avoiding incorporating more flour into the already dry dough.

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https://www.cookingwithbooks.net/2014/01/classic-argentinian-alfajores-cookies.html

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18 Comments

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Comments

  1. Janice says

    April 1, 2019 at 7:43 pm

    My 10 year old son did his research project on the country of Argentina for his library class w/other homeschooled children. He chose alfajores cookies to share w/class. This recipe was a success and quicker than our first try of a different alfajores recipe that failed. I was thankful for the note at the bottom of the recipe-that helped me and I actually only lightly put cornstarch not flour on my rolling pin andbit worked. Wonderful cookies. I didn’t even have to put the dough in the refrigerator before cutting them out.😃

    Reply
  2. Olga says

    March 21, 2019 at 12:48 pm

    This looks tasty! These are absolutely mouth watering! It will quickly disappear in our house, very tasty and flavorful!

    Reply
  3. Jane Doe says

    November 1, 2017 at 10:52 pm

    They just taste like flower. The doe was so sticky we ended up putting so much flower down in order for them not to stick, that now they just taste like flower. The whole double-decker thing wasn’t as easy as it looks. They didn’t have a taste. They just taste like flower. I was hoping for a little more other than just straight flower.

    Tip for future bakers; don’t put down too much flower on your counter top.

    Reply
  4. Melissa says

    November 20, 2015 at 8:16 am

    Amazing recipe! Exactly the correct proportions of ingredients. A huge hit! Thank you…

    Reply
  5. Stephanie | The Foodie and The Fix says

    November 10, 2015 at 7:52 am

    Is there anyone in the world who doesn’t absolutely love dulce de leche? These look delicious!

    Reply
  6. p says

    December 24, 2014 at 12:26 pm

    These are delicious! It was a hit during Thanksgiving and I’m making them again for Christmas per our family request! I omitted the lime zest and they were still delicious!

    Reply
  7. Kevin | keviniscooking says

    October 11, 2014 at 5:11 pm

    These cookies look so light and shortbread-like. Beautiful photos AND with the dulce de leche, wow!

    Reply
  8. Alice // Hip Foodie Mom says

    January 28, 2014 at 8:52 am

    Marnely, these are probably to most beautiful Alfajores I have ever seen! gorgeous! and I absolutely love dulce de leche, and did make it once from scratch here at home because I wanted to see if I could .. after one fail, I got it. I’m definitely going to look for that Nestle brand. . I didn’t know they had/made dulce de leche!

    Reply
  9. Jersey Girl Cooks says

    January 24, 2014 at 11:59 am

    These are some of my favorite cookies ever and I haven’t made Alfajores in a long time. I love your filling! Yum!

    Reply
  10. laurasmess says

    January 23, 2014 at 3:19 am

    I love alfajores. I hadn’t tried them prior to late last year when I actually made my own, I was very happy with how they turned out! I later found out from the mother of an Argentinean friend (who I was brave enough to serve them to, argh!) that she rolls the outsides in coconut like you have. I half-dipped them in chocolate which was also yummy… definitely going to try the coconut method next time though. Thanks for this lovely tutorial. Love everything you make Marnely! xx

    Reply
  11. Nutmeg Nanny says

    January 22, 2014 at 12:57 pm

    Oh wow, I am swooning over these! That center filling looks divine, so tempting!

    Reply
  12. Jennifer | Bake or Break says

    January 22, 2014 at 12:11 pm

    These look so, so good! And they’re beautiful, too!

    Reply

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