These Alfajores feature homemade dulce de leche sandwiched between two delicious crumbly cookies and rolled in shredded coconut. These tiny cookie sandwiches are popular all over the globe and are sure to please any crowd. I’ve only got one word to describe them: YUM!
What are alfajores?
Alfajores are commonly thought of as an Argentinian cookie, but variations of it are popular all over the world. In some countries, they sandwich dule de leche between two wafer cookies, in other countries, they don’t roll the cookies in shredded coconut. And there are countless other variations.
It makes sense that these delicious treats would be so popular, because they are so delicious.
I never had alfajores growing up, but I discovered them as an adult and fell in love. I am not a huge fan of super sweet desserts, so I initially thought I wouldn’t like these cookies. But surprisingly, although they are filled with dulce de leche, these sandwiches are not overly sweet because the cookies help balance the flavors. And if you make your own, you can have even more control over the sweetness. So let’s get to making these alfajores!
Let’s start with the dulce de leche filling
Dulce de leche is just caramelized sweetened condensed milk. If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ve probably heard me lament about my failed attempts to make dulce de leche in the past.
I’ve always been too scared to boil an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk because I was afraid the can would explode. And I definitely didn’t want to try to use my Instant Pot to make dulce de leche because the thought of a metal can inside of a pressure cooker was terrifying.
But finally, I found a dulce de leche method that works like a charm and doesn’t require boiling the can. All you have to do is pour sweetened condensed milk into an oven safe dish along with salt and a stick of cinnamon. Cover with foil, then place the dish in a water bath and bake until the milk caramelizes. So so easy!
Now on to the cookies
First, I want to note that these cookies are very plain, which is actually a really good thing for this recipe! Because the dulce de leche is so sweet, we want a really basic cookie that doesn’t have too much flavor and that isn’t too sweet to balance everything out.
Alfajores essentially use a sugar cookie base. One major difference is that these cookie use a lot more corn starch, which gives the cookies their crumbly texture. I’ve seen recipes that use a 1-to-1 flour to corn starch ratio, but I found that I liked the cookies to be a bit more on the crumbly side, so my recipe uses a little more cornstarch than flour. This makes the cookies melt in your mouth, which is exactly what I want.
For the flour, I used Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached White All Purpose Flour. This is my go-to baking flour. It honestly can do no wrong in my mind. The texture and flavor are amazing and it works for all of my recipes.
I’ve teamed up with Bob’s Red Mill to show you all how to make these Alfajores as part of their Make it Monday series. Be sure to check it out!
Now let’s put it all together
Once you’ve made the cookies and the dulce de leche, it’s time to assemble. I filled a piping bag with dulce de leche and made a little assembly line. I filled half of the cookies with dulce, then covered those with the remaining cookies and rolled each sandwich in shredded coconut. This would be a really fun place to involve kids!
Tips and Tricks
This recipe is relatively simple, but there are a few things that can trip you up, so I think it’s work having a section with a few tips to get perfect alfajores every time.
- Don’t let your dulce brown too much. The longer you bake the condensed milk, the deeper the caramel color. But remember that the dulce will brown even more as it cools, so while it may look a little light when you initially take it out, it will get at least 1 to 2 shades darker.
- Make uniform cookies. This seems like a no brainer, but make sure to use a mold to ensure all the cookies are the same size. I used a spice cap because it was the perfect shape, so use whatever you have. There’s nothing worse than having mismatched cookies when you’re trying to make a uniform sandwich!
- Use a piping bag to pipe the dulce and fill the cookies. This makes it so much easier to handle the dulce de leche. You can make a homemade piping bag by filling a ziploc bag with dulce then cutting a corner of the bag with a pair of scissors.
Recipe Video
Looking for more delicious recipes? Try:
Gluten Free Mega Chocolate Chunk Cookies
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If you make this recipe, be sure to let me know by rating it and leaving a comment below. I would love to hear from you. And don’t forget to tag @sweetandsorrel on Instagram!
Alfajores
Ingredients
Dulce de Leche
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cinnamon stick
- salt
Cookies
- 1/2 cup (8tbsp) salted butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar (plus more to dust the cookies)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour (I used
Bob's Red Mill Unbleached White All Purpose Flour ) - 1 cup cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- salt
- 1 tsp lemon zest optional
- 1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Dulce de Leche Filling
- Pour sweetened condensed milk into a oven safe dish. Add salt and cinnamon stick. Cover tightly with foil and place dish inside of a larger baking tin filled with lukewarm water. The water should cover 2/3rds of the dish. Place on middle rack and bake the milk in the water bath for 2 hours, or until the milk caramelizes to a medium brown. You may need to refill the water halfway through. Take the dish out of the oven and let it cool. Remove the foil and cinnamon stick, then use a whisk to stir the dulce de leche until it is nice and creamy. Set aside.
Cookies
- Sift together the dry ingredients (cornstarch, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt). Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream together butter and powered sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks one at a time, making sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. Add vanilla extract and mix on low until incorporated. Add lemon zest (optional).
- Add dry ingredients and mix on medium low until just incorporated. The mixture should look grainy, like wet yellow sand. Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and use your hands to press the dough until it becomes smooth (see video). Shape the dough into a ball, then cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- Reduce oven temeprature to 350 degrees F.
- Remove dough from the fridge and while the dough is still wrapped in plastic wrap, use a rolling pin to roll flat, roughly 1 in high and 12 x 12. Using a 2 in round (I used a spice cap that was 4.25 cm), cut out 24 cookies. The amount of cookies you get will depend on the size cutter you use.
- Transfer cookies to a baking tray lined with parchment paper, then bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Fill a piping bag with dulce de leche. Fill half of the cookies with dulce de leche. Press one of the cookies without dulce de leche on top of one of the cookies with dulce, pressing gently to sandwich the cookies together. Roll in shredded cooconut (the dulce filling will stick to the coconut and keep it in place). Repeat with the remaining cookies.
- Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the cookies and enjoy!
Notes
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