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    Home » Recipes » Christmas Cookies

    Alfajores de Maicena - Caramel love at first bite

    October 7, 2020 By Sara McCleary Updated September 22, 2021 - This post may contain affiliate links

    Jump to Recipe

    Alfajores de Maicena are indulgent shortbread cookies from Latin America. Buttery shortbread is sandwiched together with dulce de leche, then rolled in coconut.

    alfajores cookies on a rack

    Surprisingly this is not a complicated recipe, which has incredibly delicious and impressive results. A simple shortbread recipe teamed with my even simpler dulce de leche recipe makes for pure eating joy.

    These melt in your mouth cookies filled with dulce de leche are delicious any time of the year. But did you know that alfajores cookies are often served as part of Chile's Christmas celebrations? A yummy recipe worth keeping up your sleeve for the silly season.

    Sara xxx

    Ingredients

    ingredients for alfajores de maicena
    • Baking powder: Gives the cookies a lighter texture.
    • Egg yolk: Adding this along with a whole egg makes for a richer shortbread.
    • Egg: A binding agent, go for fresh and free-range eggs.
    • Vanilla Extract: Use good quality natural vanilla extract/essence, not the fake stuff.
    • Cornflour: Or cornstarch, this is what gives the shortbread cookies their melt in your mouth texture.
    • Caster Sugar: Also known as superfine sugar. Finer textured sugar creams into the butter easier than standard sugar.
    • Butter: I use salted butter for this recipe (shock horror), as I like the subtle taste it gives against the sweet dulce de leche. You can use unsalted butter if preferred.
    • Coconut: Desiccated coconut is used to roll the finished alfajores de maicena to cover the dulce de leche. You can skip this step if you don't like coconut.
    • Plain Flour: Use plain, in this recipe don't substitute self-raising flour and omit the baking powder.
    • Condensed Milk (not shown): A can of condensed milk is used to make the dulce de leche if you are making it from scratch.

    Hero Ingredient - Dulce De Leche

    The most important part of this recipe. Without it, these alfajores de maicena would simply be tasty but plain shortbread. You can purchase dulce de leche at specialty food stores.

    Or you can make it yourself. It is really easy to do, all you need is a can of sweetened condensed milk. Follow my step by step guide, how to make dulce de leche easily.

    dulce de leche in a bowl with a spoon

    Recipe Walk Through

    mixing bowl with butter and sugar beaten

    Pre-heat oven 180°C (360°F). Line a baking tray/ cookie sheet with baking paper.

    Cream butter and sugar in a bowl, using either a stand mixer or handheld electric beaters until fluffy.

    Continue beating and add vanilla essence.

    Add the egg and egg yolk, beat until completely combined.

    mixing bowl showing dough once eggs have been added
    mixing bowl showing recipe dough up to the stage where flour is added

    Turn beaters down to a low speed and slowly beat in the flours and baking powder.

    As soon as the mixture comes together stop the beaters. You do not want to over beat the dough.

    Form dough into a smooth round ball, again do not overwork the dough.

    a ball of dough on baking paper
    marble rolling pin rolling out cookie dough between two sheets of baking paper

    Between two pieces of baking paper/parchment paper, using a rolling pin, roll dough out until is is roughly 5cm (one eighth inch) thick.

    Carefully remove the top layer of baking paper. Then using a 5cm (2 inch) cookie cutter, cut out cookie rounds and place on the lined baking tray.

    Place in the oven and bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Once baked leave cookies to cool for a couple of minutes on the tray before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

    rounds being cut out of rolled alfajores dough and placed on to a lined baking tray
    shortbread cookies on racks with piping bag full of dulce de leche, some of the cookies have had dulce de leche piped on to them

    Place dulce de leche in a piping bag and pipe some dulce de leche on to the underside of one of the cookies.

    Then sandwich the filling together with another cookie. Again the underside of the second cookie should be touching the dulce de leche.

    Continue with the rest of the cookies.

    Once all the cookies have been filled, roll the edges in desiccated coconut.

    Store in an airtight container.

    short bread biscuits on racks and a person rolling alfajores de maicena in coconut

    Tips & Tricks

    • If you find the alfajores cookies dough starts to get a little too soft to handle, place it in the fridge to firm up.
    • I have a roll of large disposable piping bags, and find using a piping bag (no tip) makes filling the alfajores with the dulce de leche much easier. You can of course use a spoon, I just find it messier as the dulce de leche is very thick and sticky.
    • Use a marble rolling pin when working with dough or pastry as it is cold and helps to keep what I am working with cooler.
    • As tempting as it is, don't overfill the cookie sandwiches.
    marble rolling pin rolling out cookie dough between two sheets of baking paper
    hand holding large disposable piping bags on a continuous roll

    Alfajores FAQs

    Where do Alfajores come from?

    Alfajores are found throughout South America but are best known to come from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Peru. They are also very popular in The Philippines.

    How do I pronounce Alfajores?

    The "j" is pronounced as an "h", alpha-HORE-ays.

    How to store Alfajores

    You can store filled alfajores for up to 6 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
    Unfilled shortbread cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 7 days or in the freezer for 1 month.

    close up of a alfajores de maicena biscuit
    close up on alfajores de maicena cookies on a rack

    Alfajores de Maicena

    Recipe Author: Sara McCleary
    Alfajores de Maicena are indulgent shortbread cookies from Latin America. Buttery shortbread is sandwiched together with dulce de leche, then rolled in coconut.
    5 from 5 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 15 mins
    Cook Time 8 mins
    Assembly 10 mins
    Total Time 33 mins
    Course Cookies
    Cuisine South American
    Servings 20 Cookies
    Calories 130 kcal

    Special Equipment

    • stand mixer or electric beaters
    • Rolling Pin
    • baking tray /cookie sheet
    • cooling rack

    Ingredients

    • 125 grams (½ cup) butter at room temperature
    • 115 grams (½ cup) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 egg
    • 1 egg yolk
    • 150 grams (1¼ cups) cornflour (cornstarch)
    • 150 grams (1 cup) plain flour
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder
    • dulce de leche
    • desiccated coconut for rolling

    Instructions
     

    • Pre-heat oven 180°C (360°F). Line a baking tray/ cookie sheet with baking paper.
    • Cream butter and sugar in a bowl, using either a stand mixer or handheld electric beaters until fluffy.
    • Continue beating and add vanilla essence.
    • Add the egg and egg yolk, beat until completely combined.
    • Turn beaters down to a low speed and slowly beat in the flours and baking powder. As soon as the mixture comes together stop the beaters. You do not want to over beat the dough.
    • Form dough into a smooth round ball, again do not overwork the dough.
    • Between two pieces of baking paper, using a rolling pin, roll dough out until is is roughly 5cm (one eighth inch) thick.
    • Carefully remove the top layer of baking paper. Then using a 5cm (2 inch) cookie cutter, cut out cookie rounds and place on the lined baking tray.
    • Place in the oven and bake for 8 - 10 minutes. You do not want the cookies to colour. They will spread slightly when cooking.
    • Remove tray from the oven and leave cookies to cool for a couple of minutes on the tray before transferring them to a cooling rack.

    Alfajores Assembly

    • Once the cookies are completely cooled you can assemble the cookies.
    • Place dulce de leche in a piping bag and pipe some dulce de leche on to the underside of one of the cookies.
    • Then sandwich the filling together with another cookie. Again the underside of the second cookie should be touching the dulce de leche.
    • Continue with the rest of the cookies.
    • Once all the cookies have been filled, roll the edges in desiccated coconut.

    Notes

    General Cooks’ Notes
    All oven temperatures are for a conventional oven, if using fan forced lower the temperature by 20 Deg C (70 Deg F).
    All measurements are Australian tablespoons and cups. All measures are level, and cups are lightly packed unless specified;
    • 1 teaspoon equals 5ml
    • 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml (Nth America, NZ & UK use 15ml tablespoons)
    • 1 cup equals 250ml (Nth America use 237ml)
    • 4 teaspoons equals 1 tablespoon
    • I use the below unless specified in my recipes;
    Herbs are fresh | Vegetables are of a medium size | Eggs are roughly 60 grams in weight (large)

    Nutrition

    Calories: 130kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 1gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 49mgPotassium: 51mgFiber: 1gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 181IUCalcium: 22mgIron: 1mg
    Keyword caramel shortbread cookies, christmas shortbread, recipes using dulce de leche
    Did You Make This Recipe?I do a happy dance when people share how they went. Tag me on Instagram or Twitter @bellyrumbles & #bellyrumbles

    More Cookie Recipes

    We have some great cookie recipes on Belly Rumbles to be explored. If you are after a delicious shortbread recipe my peanut butter shortbread cookies are pretty damn tasty, so are my crunchy coconut biscuits. Have a look at the links below.

    • Coconut Biscuits - Easy Peasy Recipe
    • Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies
    • Chocolate, Brazil Nut & Ginger Cookie Recipe
    • Coconut Chocolate Ganache Cookie Sandwiches
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    pinterest pin
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Helen

      August 18, 2021 at 6:19 pm

      I have scrolled through 3 times but I can't see the list that shows "amounts" of each ingredient - just a photo and a description of the ingredients?! Not sure if browsing on my phone is causing an issue?

      Reply
      • Sara McCleary

        August 18, 2021 at 6:46 pm

        Hi Helen
        Thank you for bringing this to my attention. It's us, not you. For some reason the recipe had "fallen off" the post. Gremlins are obviously at play.
        You can find the recipe towards the end of the post. Or click "printable recipe" in the contents and you will be taken directly to the recipe.
        My apologies for the inconvenience caused!
        Cheers, Sara

        Reply
    2. Amanda Marie Boyle

      October 11, 2020 at 11:25 pm

      5 stars
      My friend's mom used to make these but wouldn't share her secret recipe! This is as close as I can get to them! Thank you

      Reply
    3. Amanda Wren-Grimwood

      October 11, 2020 at 7:56 pm

      5 stars
      These sound devine! The combination of shortbread and caramel is so good.

      Reply
    4. Dannii

      October 11, 2020 at 7:25 pm

      5 stars
      These look beautiful. Much easier than I thought they would be too.

      Reply
    5. Alice | SkinnySpatula

      October 11, 2020 at 7:16 pm

      5 stars
      These look aboslutely incredible. I so love the idea of rolling dulce de leche in coconut!

      Reply
    6. Nart at Cooking with Nart

      October 11, 2020 at 7:06 pm

      5 stars
      Wow, I've never seen or heard of these before. They kind look like macarons. I learned something from your post today. Thanks so much for sharing! Gonna have to give these a go 🙂

      Reply

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    photo of Sara McCleary, Founder, Belly Rumbles culinary travel blog

    Well hello there! I’m Sara McCleary a food photographer, creative recipe developer, and avid traveller (when the World isn’t in a pandemic).

    Welcome to Belly Rumbles, my slice of the Internet.

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