Alfajores

Eaten freshly made and crispy, or later in the day when the cookies have become more tender and cake-like, this is a treat that will satisfy anybody's sweet tooth.

I first tasted alfajores years ago when a Chilean co-worker brought them to a staff Christmas party. The cookie was thin and crispy but didn't have a lot of flavour.....it was all about the homemade dulce de leche filling. Since then, I've tried to replicate the flavour and experience of that first cookie with different recipes, but none of them have come close until now; this cookie is delicious on its own but the homemade filling (we're not talking about cooked sweetened condensed milk) puts it over the top!

The filling (pg337) is easy to make but does need time to chill. The dough comes together quickly and is easy to shape (roll into balls and flatten). My cookies ended up slightly larger than 2" so made only 21 sandwiches. If adding these to a holiday cookie tray, I would recommend making the smaller size. Apparently, these keep for 1 week, but I wouldn't know........mine were gone in a few hours!