In the Kitchen: Making Alfajores

My daughter has been learning about Argentina in her seventh grade Spanish class. She had an assignment to make some sort of Argentinian food and bring it into school. This week's schedule was a bit on the busy side as we had our first high school track meet and first middle school soccer game, so I knew I wouldn't have time for anything too complicated. I found this recipe for Alfajores, from 2 Sisters Recipes ... by Anna & Liz, and adapted it.











Alfajores

For the Dulce De Leche:
4 cups whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pour the milk, sugar, corn syrup, baking soda and salt in a heavy-duty 8 quart saucepan or Dutch oven. Place over medium-high heat and bring just to a boil. Be sure to watch closely, and as soon as the milk begins to foam up, stir with a wooden spoon. Reduce heat until the milk is just at a low rolling boil. Continue cooking milk, stirring the bottom and sides of the saucepan frequently, until the mixture becomes very thick and sticky and caramel colored (this will take about 40-60 minutes.) It is important to frequently stir the milk so it does NOT burn.

As the milk continues to cook, it thickens and gets darker in color. Once the Dulce de Leche has been reduced to about 1 1/4 cups, remove from heat and strain. Stir in the vanilla extract. Cool before covering and storing. The Dulce de Leche can be stored in the fridge for up to a month.

Shortbread Cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (2sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and salt. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently beat in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Using a lightly floured 2-inch round cookie cutter (I used a flower-shaped cutter), cut out rounds. Place on the baking sheets. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until cookies are brown around the edges. Cool on a wire rack. Shortbread cookies will keep in an airtight container for about a week.





My husband preferred the shortbread cookies alone. We also used Nutella to fill some of the cookies, which Morgan preferred as she is our resident chocoholic. They were easy and yummy! I'm happy to have found and tried this recipe and will be adding it to my collection.

Have a great weekend! xoxo


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