Tuesday 25 January 2011

Alfajores

I made these the day before I left Switzerland, almost a month ago. I suppose that's testament to how hectic things are. I definitely wasn't wavering over the recipe - it's a keeper. 

I had to try these because the recipe is unusual - more cornflour than flour, brandy in a biscuit etc etc. I can't help myself with these things - I have to find out how it works and tastes. 


I used some of the dulce de leche I made for my banoffee pies to make these. The recipe is from David Lebovitz, here. It's a great recipe, especially if you don't like the idea of boiling tins.  I needed to cook mine for a little longer - I'd like it to be a deeper gold. 

Though the biscuits are delicious sandwiched, mum and I actually thought that they were very nice on their own. You lose quite a bit of the subtlety of the biscuit with the big flavour of the dulce. Either way, they're delicious!

They're also quite crumble and delicate. Don't do as I did and try and take a few on a trip in a bag - I ended up with a bag of (admittedly tasty) crumbs. 

Alfajores
(adapted from Lindsay Cooks)

95g cornflour
70g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
75g caster sugar
75g butter
1 1/2 tbsp brandy or cognac
1/4 of a lemon zested
2 egg yolks

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Sift together the cornstarch, flour and baking powder into a bowl and set aside. In a mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the brandy and zest and beat in. Add yolks one by one, beating in between. Add the contents of the flour bowl and slowly beat in. Knead for a minute or two. Divide into two. Roll out into a 1/4" thickness. Cut out with a cookie cutter and place on lined baking sheet spaced 1" apart.  Roll out any scraps. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden. Leave to cool. Fill with a heaped tsp of dulce de leche and sandwich. 

(Makes 10 when sandwiched)

4 comments:

  1. These look delicious and really pretty too.

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  2. Yummmmmmmmm
    I LOVE dulce de leche sandwiches cookies!
    Thank you for sharing!

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  3. These sound very similar to melting moments which are also made with a high proportion of cornflour and have that sandy crumbly texture.

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  4. Thanks Emma for the tip. Making them like the fork cookies.

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