Alfajores Limeños
Alfajores are sandwich cookies with cream filling. Different versions of the cookies are found throughout South America. For example, in Argentina, alfajores are made with dulce de leche in the center and are often dipped in chocolate. This recipe is for the variety native to Lima, Peru. The cookies are small, light, and flaky and are dusted with confectioner’s sugar.
Recipe credit: The Global Foods Online Kitchens
1. Puncture a small hole in the top of the can of condensed milk.
2. Place the can in a pot with enough water to completely cover the can. Boil it on high heat for an hour. You are cooking the filling inside the can. At the end of the hour, the condensed milk will have turned a golden color and it is now called majar blanco.
3. Remove from heat and let the can cool for at least an hour before you attempt to open it. Caution! Do not open the can until it has cooled completely.
4. While the manjar blanco is cooking, make the cookie dough. The dough, called masa, is made by combining the flour, powdered sugar, and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Refrigerate the dough for about an hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
6. Roll it out about ¼ of an inch thick. Cut out little circles (2-3 inches across) and place them on a cookie sheet. Pierce each cookie four times with a fork. This will keep them from deforming.
7. Bake the cookies 10 to 13 minutes. Cool before handling them.
8. When the cookies and the manjar blanco are cool, you can begin assembling the sandwiches.
9. Spoon some manjar blanco filling onto a cookie and then top with another cookie.
10. Dust with powdered sugar.
