Alfajores

Peruvian Sandwich Cookies with Dulce de Leche & Rocoto Ganache

Alfajores arrived in Peru by way of the Spanish colonists, who borrowed the recipe idea from Arabic bakers sometime during the Middle Ages. Today, you’ll find the sandwich cookies all over Latin America. The common link is the cornstarch in the dough, which makes the cookies crumbly (the Spanish version is very different and made from flour, almonds, and honey).

I like my alfajores really, really crumbly—so crumbly that they almost dissolve into a powder on your tongue, or even better, all over your fingers. That also means that even if you spread the filling onto the cookies very gently, you may lose a few cookies along the way. (Give the crumbs a dollop of filling and scoop it all up with a spoon for a snack—baker's suerte, luck.) I roll the sides of the cookies in puffed quinoa (see sidebar, page 200). It’s not essential, but it looks nice and gives the alfajores a light, airy crunchiness that plays off the already crumbly cookies and creamy filling.

1 In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and salt. In a medium bowl, sift together the cornstarch, flour, powdered sugar, and baking powder and add about half to the bowl of the stand mixer. Cover the top of the mixer bowl with a kitchen towel (to avoid a kitchen snow flurry) and mix on low speed for about 1 minute. Add the remaining cornstarch mixture, cover the bowl, and mix for 30 seconds more. The mixture will look very dry, almost like pie dough without the water. Pour in the pisco and vanilla and mix for a minute or so more, until a dough forms.

2 Shape the dough into two chubby logs about 6 inches long and about 2 inches wide. Wrap each snugly in plastic wrap and twist the ends tightly to close. Roll each dough log back and forth a few times on a flat work surface with your palms to smooth out the sides (try to keep the logs about the same length). Refrigerate the dough for at least 4 hours or overnight.

3 Preheat the oven to 350°F and place both racks toward the middle of the oven. Line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper.

4 Slice each log of dough in half to make four smaller logs, and slice off the ends of the dough where they’re crinkly from the plastic wrap. Cut each log into about ten ¼-inch-thick rounds so you have about 40 discs. Place them on the parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them about an inch apart. Bake until the bottoms barely begin to turn light brown (lift one up with a spatula to check), 15 to 18 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

5 Line up the cookies in pairs on a work surface so each is close to the same size. If the manjar blanco or ganache has been refrigerated, rewarm it on the stovetop for a minute or two, or in the microwave for a few seconds. The filling should be very easy to spread or the cookies will break.

6 Dollop a spoonful (about ¾ tablespoon) of filling gently on each cookie half. Put the filling-topped cookie in the palm of one hand and gently spread the filling toward the edges of the cookie with your finger or the back of the spoon. Gently nestle a partner cookie on top of the filling to make a sandwich. Don’t push down on the top cookie too firmly, or it will crumble. Repeat with the remaining cookies. If desired, place the puffed quinoa on a large plate and very gently roll the sides of the alfajores in the quinoa. Or, if your filling doesn’t go all the way to the edges, press the quinoa on the sides. Use a sifter to dust both sides of the alfajores with powdered sugar.

7 Store the cookies with parchment paper between each layer in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or refrigerate the cookies for up to 1 week. They will soften a bit in the fridge. Dust the cookies with a little more powdered sugar before serving if they need some sprucing up.

Rocoto Ganache

When I play around with different alfajores fillings, it’s usually something spicy, like this rocoto ganache. You can vary the amount of rocoto paste depending on your cookie crowd’s heat tolerance.

To make Rocoto Ganache: Warm ⅓ cup heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat (do not boil) and stir in 6 ounces (1 generous cup) bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks. Cook until the chocolate starts to looks sludgy, less than 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and keep stirring until the chocolate has melted completely. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1½ teaspoons rocoto paste (see page 34), or to taste, and a pinch of salt. Stir 1 cup sifted powdered sugar into the chocolate until completely incorporated and let the ganache cool. Taste and add more rocoto paste for more spiciness, if you’d like. Cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Makes about 1 cup.

Manjar Blanco (Dulce de Leche)

Give the milk plenty of cooking time to get a really rich caramelized flavor in dulce de leche—or manjar blanco, as it’s known in Peru. Oven-baking the milk in a water bath or cooking it in a double boiler is faster than the old-school stovetop method (boiling the milk in the unopened can), plus you can gauge how dark the caramel gets. When you’re not cooking the milk in the can, you also don’t have the problem of the caramel sauce shooting out at rocket speed if you open the can while it’s still warm. These things are loads of fun when you’re an eight-year-old, not so much when you’re the parent of one.

To make Manjar Blanco: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Pour 1 (14-ounce) can condensed milk into a 7- or 8-inch glass or ceramic baking dish and cover it with aluminum foil. Make a water bath by putting the dish inside a larger baking dish with a solid inch or more to spare on all sides, and pour hot water into the baking dish to come about halfway up the sides of the interior pan. Bake until the milk has turned a toastado, toasty, caramel color, 40 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of the pan. Remove the interior pan, let the sauce cool, cover, and refrigerate for up to 1 week. Makes about 1 cup.