Posting date is May 12 – any opinions about using prepared dulce de leche vs. making your own?
Alfajores
Yield: 24 to 28 sandwich cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
3⁄4 teaspoon baking powder
3⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cornstarch
6 ounces (11⁄2 sticks) unsalted butter, cool but not cold, cut into 1⁄2-inch cubes
2⁄3 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
3 large egg yolks, plus 1 large egg
2 tablespoons good-quality light rum
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 to 2 1⁄2 cups Dulce de Leche (page 58) or prepared dulce de leche
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sift the cornstarch over the flour mixture and whisk again to combine. Set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, add the zest, and beat for 15 seconds. Add the egg yolks and egg, one at a time, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl again, add the rum and vanilla, and beat for 10 seconds.
Add half of the flour mixture and beat for 15 seconds. Add the remaining flour mix- ture and beat until just incorporated. Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and pat it into a disk; wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 1⁄2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Unwrap the dough and divide it into 2 equal portions. Place the first portion on a work surface lightly dusted with flour (or, for extra ease, roll it out on a flour-dusted piece of parchment) and return the other portion to the refrigerator.
Form the dough into a small disk and roll it to 1⁄8 inch thick (or just a bit thicker). Use a 2-inch round cookie cutter to create your tops and bottoms, and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch of space around each cookie. Continue the process with the second piece of dough. Extra dough scraps can be refrigerated for about 10 minutes to firm them up so they can be rerolled, if desired.
Refrigerate the cookie-filled sheet pans for 5 minutes before baking. Bake for 8 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking time. The cookies will be done when they just begin to color (they won’t “brown” necessarily). Place the baking sheets on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the racks to cool completely before filling them.
Using a pastry bag with a medium tip, or a small spoon, apply about 2 tablespoons of dulce de leche to the flat side of a cookie (and don’t feel shy about adding slightly more filling if you are in the mood—we often do). Place another cookie, flat side down, on top. Press slightly so that the filling spreads to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until
all the sandwich cookies are made. Sift some confectioners’ sugar over each cookie, if desired, and let them set up for about 15 minutes before serving.
The cookies can be stored at room temperature, tightly covered, for up to 3 days. Let it be known that some people think these cookies taste their best on day 2.
Excerpted from Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Copyright © 2012 by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Excerpted by permission of Stewart, Tabori & Chang, an imprint of Abrams. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
For those making their own dulce de leche using the stovetop method, did you stir your mixture while it was cooking? I assumed that it’s supposed to be stirred occasionally to avoid scorching or uneven cooking, but my half-batch has been cooking for over two hours and it’s not even close…
What do you think of using last week’s nutella as a filling? Thoughts?
I missed last week’s posting but I made both the homemade nutella and the Hazelnut Tunnel of Fudge Bundt. I was so-so on the nutella. The Tunnel of Fudge cake tasted INCREDIBLE but it was more like a crater of fudge than a tunnel…Not the prettiest picture, but I’ll definitely try it again!
I think the nutella would be great sandwiched between these cookies!!!
You know my response to the Nutella idea. You may as well wait until it rains, go out and slather some mud on your cookies. Would taste the same as Nutella. Hehehehe… ;-) Just kidding – if you’re a fan, I say try it! (the Nutella, that is…LOL)
Okay, my dulce de leche took 4 hours!! I don’t know if that’s because I was stirring it or not. It also got grainy after setting, but still yummy.
Yes, I bet nutella would be great! :)
I just stopped by to see if anyone else’s took much longer in the oven than the recipe said. Mine took close to two hours and it’s still not quite as dark as the photo in the book, but I have to do some errands so I called it. But given that the stovetop took four hours, I’m glad I used the oven method (which I chose so I wouldn’t have to worry about stirring).
I’m with Dafna on this one. 4 hours, stove-top…. which is closer to what I remember from the last time I made it.
Phew, I’m glad it wasn’t just me! I thought I did something wrong. Did you stir while it cooked?
Barely – just a few times to take a look at the overall color.
I used the microwave method – and it took almost 40 minutes. The overall color was about medium-caramel color, not as dark as Baked’s photo. It was good, but I needed to work fast with it, because it set up FAST. In fact, what I ended up with was not so much dulce de leche, but actual caramels. Yikes.
I was not big on these. The dulce de leche was ‘eh’ and the cookies dull and dry. Not a winner. :-(
Mine was medium-caramel colored too, but I finally pulled it off. I probably could’ve taken it off 30 minutes earlier as far as consistency, but I was trying to get it darker…
I haven’t made these yet, the nutella WOULD have been amazing, but I made the Nutella Scones with the rest of mine. :( I found a recipe for the dulce de leche that microwaves it…I think I’m going to give that a whirl. It looks like it should take 30 minutes or so. Good, bad or ugly I’ll post it on Sunday!!
The dulce de leche recipe in the book gives options for microwave, stovetop, or in the oven!
I used prepared Dulce de Leche and Nutella in mine – both were good.
I did my dulce de leche on the stovetop. I only did a half recipe, but it was spot-on at 2:30. I did split my batch between dulce de leche and the nutella, and I think they’re both good, but I do prefer the dulce de leche!