Makes 36
What can you make with flour, salt, egg yolks, and Pisco? The answer is this versatile dough used to make fried guargüeros and also baked voladores. In Lima you can buy these lovely cookies in many bakeries, grocery stores, and coffee shops, but there is something rewarding—and relaxing—about making them yourself.
1 cup all-purpose flour
⅓ teaspoon salt
6 egg yolks
¼ cup Pisco
2 cups vegetable oil
1–2 cups manjar blanco (dulce de leche)
½ cup confectioners sugar
1. Sift the flour and salt. Put on a table and make a well in the center.
2. Add the egg yolks and Pisco in the middle. With your fingers, start to incorporate the flour with the yolks and Pisco, until a dough is formed.
3. Knead with your hands until the dough is elastic and doesn´t stick to your fingers. Form a ball, cover with plastic wrap or put in a plastic bag, and rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes.
4. Sprinkle the table with flour. Take a small portion of the dough (about ½ a cup) and roll with a rolling pin until very thin. You should be patient and keep rolling, until you get a perfect, smooth layer. Cut in 2-inch squares per side.
5. Place an egg white drop in one of the corners and fold, pressing the moist corner against the opposite corner.
6. Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.
7. When hot, fry the guargüeros for 2–3 minutes. They will float when they are ready. Do not let them brown.
8. Transfer to a plate or a wire rack covered with paper towels, and let them cool.
9. Put the manjar blanco or dulce de leche in a piping bag with a rosette tip, and fill the guargüeros.
10. Sift confectioners sugar over them and serve.
11. You can make the cookies in advance and keep them in a sealed container for up to 2 days. Fill them with manjar blanco when ready to serve.
In Peru many people make manjar blanco (Peruvian dulce de leche) at home for this recipe and many others. We, however, don’t recommend this, as it is very time consuming, and your sweet tooth will not like the wait! Just buy dulce de leche at the store (it needs to be the thick kind, not runny), and use this.