Alfajores de Maicena (Buttery Cornstarch Cookies Filled with Dulce de Leche)
By Sandra WuPublished on November 29, 2021
Time
2 hours, plus 1 hour chilling
Yield
Makes 24 cookies
Ingredients
Filling
2 (13.4 ounces/380 grams) cans Nestlé La Lechera Dulce de Leche 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ teaspoon table saltCookies
1½ cups (6 ounces/170 grams) cornstarch 1⅓ cups (6⅔ ounces/189 grams) all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon table salt 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened ½ cup (3½ ounces/99 grams) sugar 3 large egg yolks 1 tablespoon brandy (optional)1 teaspoon grated lemon zest 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup (3 ounces/85 grams) unsweetened shredded coconutBefore You Begin
It's essential to buy the Nestlé La Lechera brand of canned dulce de leche, or the filling won't have the right consistency. Look for it near the sweetened condensed milk in your supermarket. You can also make our recipe for Dulce de Leche, which can be done in the oven or multicooker. If using our recipe, skip step 1 and make sure the filling has been chilled for at least two hours. The brandy complements the flavors of the vanilla and lemon zest, but you can omit it, if preferred. Alfajores are fragile, so we've designed this recipe to make a few extra cookies in case some break. Coconut is a customary garnish, but you can also simply sift confectioners’ sugar over the cookies before serving. Refrigerate any leftover dulce de leche in an airtight container for up to one month.
Instructions
- Transfer dulce de leche to medium bowl. Stir in vanilla and salt until thoroughly incorporated. Cover and refrigerate until mixture is completely chilled, at least 2 hours.
- While filling chills, in medium bowl, whisk together cornstarch, flour, baking powder, and salt. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg yolks; brandy, if using; lemon zest; and vanilla and beat until combined. Add cornstarch mixture; reduce speed to low; and mix until dough is smooth, scraping down bowl as needed.
- Divide dough in half. Place 1 piece of dough in center of large sheet of parchment paper and press with your hand to ½-inch thickness. Place second large sheet of parchment over dough and roll dough to ¼-inch thickness. Using your flat hand on parchment, smooth out wrinkles on both sides. Transfer dough with parchment to rimmed baking sheet. Repeat pressing, rolling, and smoothing second piece of dough, then stack on top of first piece on sheet. Freeze until dough is firm, about 30 minutes.
- Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer 1 piece of dough to counter. Peel off top layer of parchment and replace loosely. Flip dough and parchment. Peel away second piece of parchment and place on rimmed baking sheet. Using 2-inch round cutter, cut dough into rounds. Transfer rounds to prepared sheet, about ½ inch apart. Repeat with remaining dough and second rimmed baking sheet. Reroll, chill, and cut scraps until you have 26 rounds on each sheet.
- Bake until tops are set but still pale and bottoms are light golden, 10 to 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
- To assemble, place half of cookies upside down on counter. Place about 2 teaspoons filling on each upside-down cookie. Hold 1 topped cookie on fingers of 1 hand. Place second, untopped cookie on top of filling, right side up, and press gently with fingers of your other hand until filling spreads to edges. Repeat with remaining cookies.
- Place coconut in small bowl. Working with 1 cookie at a time, roll sides of cookies in coconut, pressing gently to help coconut adhere to exposed filling. Serve immediately or refrigerate in airtight container for up to 5 days. Allow refrigerated cookies to sit out at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.
for the filling
for the cookies
Alfajores de Maicena (Buttery Cornstarch Cookies Filled with Dulce de Leche)
Time
2 hours, plus 1 hour chillingYield
Makes 24 cookiesIngredients
Filling
Cookies
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Filling
Cookies
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Filling
Cookies
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
Beloved across Latin America, alfajores de maicena are buttery sandwich cookies that are often filled with the region's caramelized milk jam, dulce de leche. In this iconic version, cornstarch in the dough leads to the characteristically crumbly, melt-in-the-mouth texture. Some recipes call for cornstarch alone, but we found the resulting cookies too fragile. Instead, we used slightly more cornstarch than flour by volume in our dough for powdery-soft cookies with enough structure to hold together when we filled them. Plenty of butter contributed additional tenderness and rich flavor. We opted for yolks instead of whole eggs, since the proteins in the whites can bind the dough and make the cookies less delicate. To provide contrast to the sweetness of the dulce de leche filling, we used a modest amount of sugar in the dough. For the filling, we took a common shortcut and turned to the commercial kind. Nestlé La Lechera Dulce de Leche is thickened with agar-agar, so it was thick enough to keep its shape rather than immediately oozing out from between the cookies. Doctoring it with a little vanilla and salt enhanced its complexity.
Want more? Read the whole storyBefore You Begin
It's essential to buy the Nestlé La Lechera brand of canned dulce de leche, or the filling won't have the right consistency. Look for it near the sweetened condensed milk in your supermarket. You can also make our recipe for Dulce de Leche, which can be done in the oven or multicooker. If using our recipe, skip step 1 and make sure the filling has been chilled for at least two hours. The brandy complements the flavors of the vanilla and lemon zest, but you can omit it, if preferred. Alfajores are fragile, so we've designed this recipe to make a few extra cookies in case some break. Coconut is a customary garnish, but you can also simply sift confectioners’ sugar over the cookies before serving. Refrigerate any leftover dulce de leche in an airtight container for up to one month.
Instructions
- Transfer dulce de leche to medium bowl. Stir in vanilla and salt until thoroughly incorporated. Cover and refrigerate until mixture is completely chilled, at least 2 hours.
- While filling chills, in medium bowl, whisk together cornstarch, flour, baking powder, and salt. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg yolks; brandy, if using; lemon zest; and vanilla and beat until combined. Add cornstarch mixture; reduce speed to low; and mix until dough is smooth, scraping down bowl as needed.
- Divide dough in half. Place 1 piece of dough in center of large sheet of parchment paper and press with your hand to ½-inch thickness. Place second large sheet of parchment over dough and roll dough to ¼-inch thickness. Using your flat hand on parchment, smooth out wrinkles on both sides. Transfer dough with parchment to rimmed baking sheet. Repeat pressing, rolling, and smoothing second piece of dough, then stack on top of first piece on sheet. Freeze until dough is firm, about 30 minutes.
- Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer 1 piece of dough to counter. Peel off top layer of parchment and replace loosely. Flip dough and parchment. Peel away second piece of parchment and place on rimmed baking sheet. Using 2-inch round cutter, cut dough into rounds. Transfer rounds to prepared sheet, about ½ inch apart. Repeat with remaining dough and second rimmed baking sheet. Reroll, chill, and cut scraps until you have 26 rounds on each sheet.
- Bake until tops are set but still pale and bottoms are light golden, 10 to 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
- To assemble, place half of cookies upside down on counter. Place about 2 teaspoons filling on each upside-down cookie. Hold 1 topped cookie on fingers of 1 hand. Place second, untopped cookie on top of filling, right side up, and press gently with fingers of your other hand until filling spreads to edges. Repeat with remaining cookies.
- Place coconut in small bowl. Working with 1 cookie at a time, roll sides of cookies in coconut, pressing gently to help coconut adhere to exposed filling. Serve immediately or refrigerate in airtight container for up to 5 days. Allow refrigerated cookies to sit out at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.
for the filling
for the cookies
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