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Alfajores de Maicena with Dulce de Leche filling and coconut edges, placed beside a jar of caramel.

Alfajores de Maicena

Buttery, crumbly, and filled with Dulce de Leche, these Alfajores de Maicena melt in your mouth and make every tea time feel special. A traditional treat that is simple to make and share.

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Argentinian
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 23 minutes
Servings: 9 Alfajores
Author: Manuela Zangara

Ingredients

  • 150 gms – 1 ¼ cups cornstarch
  • 100 gms – ¾ cup plain flour – I used low FODMAP and gluten-free
  • 80 gms – 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 100 gms – ½ cup butter – at room temperature (I used vegetable spread)
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • Dulce de Leche – to fill
  • Fine desiccated coconut – to roll in

Instructions

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the sugar, butter, and vanilla extract until fluffy.
  2. Add the egg yolks and beat until incorporated.
  3. Sift the cornstarch, plain flour, and baking powder into the bowl and gently fold them in with a spatula. Then knead by hand and make into a ball.
    Mixing butter, sugar, egg yolks, and dry ingredients to form Alfajores dough.
  4. Roll it into a 0.5 cm (0.2 inches) thick sheet. Cut out rounds of about 5 cm (2 inches) in diameter and put them on a tray lined with baking paper.
  5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C – 355°F for 8 minutes. Then remove from the oven and let them cool down for 2 minutes before removing them from the tray and transferring them to a wire rack to cool down completely.
    Cutting out round cookie shapes from rolled Alfajores dough.

  6. Once cooled, pipe some Dulce de Leche onto half of the cookies and top with the remaining halves to make cookie sandwiches. Roll them in fine desiccated coconut and serve.

    Filling Alfajores with Dulce de Leche and pressing cookies together.

Recipe Notes

  • To get a neat, bakery-style look, use Dulce de Leche Repostero, which is thicker than regular Dulce de Leche. The filling won’t spread too much, and the cookies will look cleaner and more put together.
  • To make Dulce de Leche Repostero, whisk 1 tablespoon of cornstarch into 4 tablespoons of milk and stir it into your Dulce de Leche near the end of the cooking process.