
This is it, folks. A real live heirloom recipe, passed through Richy's Uruguayan family. But the recipe didn't start there. It was originally an Arabic cookie, passed to Spain during the Moorish occupation. At that time, it was a cylindrical confection of ground almonds, honey, spices, and bread crumbs. When the Spanish conquered the New World, they brought the cookie with them, but many of the ingredients were unavailable, and so it finally morphed into the form that Richy and I have come to enjoy: two soft, crumbly shortbread cookies sandwiched with dulce de leche and covered in coconut.


It was with this very cookie that Richy tried to win me over. He started with walnut chocolate chip cookies, but to seal the deal he broke out the big guns. Surely, he knew that to bring me alfajores on his first visit would make a certain statement. These are big, passionate cookies. It would have been a bold fist move, so he decided to begin more subtly. But when the time was right, he brought me a batch of alfajores in all their saucy glory. And I guess you could say it worked.


But I digress; let's get back to the cookies themselves. It's very important to use a good dulce de leche, so get thee to a bodega for the good stuff (and not the Nestle kind, ¡Dios mío!). We used a brand called Los Nietitos, from Uruguay, but you can also make your own. You also have to be careful not to let the cookies brown in the oven, or they won't have the right texture. They should be soft rather than crispy. I think this texture stems largely from the generous use of cornstarch. You might be shocked by the amount of cornstarch you use in this recipe, but it works! You also might be struck by the whitness of the ingredients--white sugar, white flour, cornstarch, baking powder, coconut flakes--but at this point I have accepted that baked goods are essentially homemade processed food. But don't let that get in the way of your enjoyment. Break out the cornstarch and make these cookies.

Alfajores de Uruguay
100 grams of butter (8 tablespoons)
150 grams of sugar (3/4 cup)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
zest of one lemon
160 grams of cornstarch (1-1/4 cups)*
60 grams of flour (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder
dulce de leche
shredded coconut
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Stir in the egg and egg yolk and beat well. Then, add the lemon zest. In a separate bowl, sift together the cornstarch, flour, and baking powder. Add the dry ingrediants to the butter mixture and mix until dough forms. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes. After the dough has rested, add cornstarch until the dough no longer sticks to the counter or your rolling pin. Be careful not to add too much cornstarch or else the dough will become crumbly and not hold together. (I ended up using an additional 50g for this batch, but this amount will vary. Do not be afraid to use as much as necessary.) On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness and cut into desired shapes. Arrange cookies on baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes, or just before the cookies begin to brown.
Allow cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet before handling. Spread a generous amount of dulce de leche between two cookies. Then, coat the sides of the cookies with a thin layer of dulce de leche. Be sure to get a little on the top and bottom edges as well.
Fill a baking sheet with an even layer of shredded coconut. Roll alfajores in the shredded coconut to coat. Press both sides of the alfajor into the shredded coconut to coat the top and bottom edges.
* You will likely need to use more cornstarch than indicated because the dough will be too sticky to handle.





















