Alfajores de Maicena (Argentine Cornstarch Cookies with Dulce de Leche)

Why you’ll love it

• Melt-in-your-mouth texture: soft, sandy and buttery.
• Simple pantry ingredients: butter, sugar, yolks, cornstarch and flour.
• Make-ahead friendly: they taste even better the next day.

Quick facts

Ingredients

For the cookies

• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (140 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 2 cups (250 g) cornstarch
• 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt

For the filling

• 1 1/2 cups (450 g) thick dulce de leche (repostero style)
• 1 cup (80 g) unsweetened shredded coconut

Step-by-step method

1. Cream the butter. Beat the soft butter with the sugar until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the yolks one at a time, then the vanilla and lemon zest.

2. Add the dry ingredients. Sift the cornstarch, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Add them to the butter mixture and mix gently with your hands or a spatula just until a soft dough forms. Do not knead.

3. Chill. Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap it and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

4. Cut the cookies. Heat the oven to 340°F (170°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment. Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment to about 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick and cut 2-inch (5 cm) rounds. Re-roll the scraps once.

5. Bake pale. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until the cookies are set and dry on top but still white, with no golden edges. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then move them to a rack. They are fragile while warm.

6. Fill. Spread a generous teaspoon of dulce de leche on the flat side of half the cookies and top with the rest, pressing gently so the filling reaches the edges.

7. Roll in coconut. Roll the edges of each alfajor in the shredded coconut so it sticks to the dulce de leche.

Tips for the best result

• Use thick, bakery-style dulce de leche so the filling does not run.
• Handle the dough as little as possible: overworking makes the cookies tough.
• Pull them from the oven while they are still pale; browned alfajores are dry.

Storage

Keep in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days. Unfilled cookies keep 1 week, or freeze them up to 2 months and fill after thawing.