This alfajores recipe is easy to make. Made by 2 chocolate shortbread cookies, filled with dulce de leche and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Alfajores are a classic treat I grew up with. If you go to a Kiosk in Argentina, you can probably choose from no less than 20 different alfajores brand! And I am being cautious over here 😉. They are a big thing over there, we take alfajores seriously! And an even bigger thing for any argentine living abroad. I am part for several facebook groups of argentine expats and probably one in three posts are related to alfajores, how to make them or where to get them! This a simple chocolate alfajores recipe that you can make in one afternoon. Hope you love it as much as I do.
If you want to know more about alfajores, you can check this page What Are Alfajores? Your Guide to the South American Treat.
For this alfajores recipe you will need to assemble 2 main components:
Once the chocolate cookies have been baked and cooled off you must:
Some tips on how to get that nice round shape for your alfajores cookies.
The key is working with cold dough throughout the whole process. It might mean they will take a little longer, but it is worth it:
You can use any kind of dulce de leche you can find if it holds up. If it spreads fast, you should find another one. Trial and error.
I like to use argentine dulce de leche for my alfajores. I may be biased though 😉.
You can keep this chocolate alfajores for about 5 days at room temperature. If you live in a humid place, make sure to store them in an airtight container.
I discourage you from freezeing them once they are assembled and filled with dulce de leche.
However, you can freeze the alfajores cookie dough after you have cut the 5 cm rounds. Freeze on a baking sheet covered, once they are frozen transfer to a freezer container. You can freeze them for up to 3 months.
To defrost: place the chocolate shortbread cookies on a baking tray for 15 minutes before baking.
You can use different fillings:
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Loved them! Thanks for the amazing recipe!
HI Emily! Glad you you enjoyed the alfajores! Thanks for making them!
I've been looking for a good alfajores recipe, and I'll be saving this one! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Susan! So happy you enjoyed this recipe! It is my pleasure to share my recipes here. Thank you for your feedback!
Lovely pictures! I made them yesterday and they turned out wonderfully! I wanted to share a few notes on the recipe:
Refrigeration: I wanted cookies NOW, so I skipped the refrigeration for the dough (although I was making it in the room at 68 F, so the warm dough was not a problem).
Mixing the dough: I also used the cold butter from the fridge and mixed it flour/cacao mix by using a pastry blender. Following the procedure for mixing the dough by hand from the video referenced in the above comment helped (at first it feels like there is not enough liquid, but it does come together when you smear it on the counter).
Size: I also doubled the recipe and the amount was just right for the 1 can of dulce de leche (which I made by putting a can of condensed milk in the pressure cooker last time we cooked beans, and it was perfect).
Another minor note: rolling the dough to 3/4 mm thick (0.75 mm) is super thin and I was wondering if you meant 3-4 mm. I rolled the dough to 2-3 mm.
Hi Lucifer!
So happy you enjoyed the alfajores!!!
Yes it is true that if room temperature is low enough you can skip the chilling part if you prefer! Glad to hear it worked out and you could eat the cookies right away! Nothing like a fulfilling one's craving, right?
It is often the case with sablee doughs: it look like it will not come together, but it does! Great job on resisting the temptation of adding in liquid!
OMG! Yes I meant 3-4 mm and not 0.75 which would be impossible!! I had not realized this mistake in the recipe! THANK YOU for bringing this to my attention. Will change it!
Thank you for taking the time to write this message!
Have a great weekend!
Pastry Chef & Food Photographer
My name is Belén. I am Argentinean living in Paris where I received my training in Cuisine & Pastry at Le Cordon Bleu and L'École Lenôtre. To learn a little more about me click here Belén Gowland.
The dough did not come all right. It was way too crumbly and hard. I had to throw it away unfortunately. Perhaps more explanation on how to work the dough would be nice. All it says is no kneading
HI Vi Hoang! Firstly, I apologise for the super late response to your comment!
So sorry to hear the dough didn’t come out right! It is a recipe close to my heart and we need to fix this. Reviewing the post I can see that there are no detailed instructions on how to actually make the dough itself. I’ll be updating the post to include this explanation, thanks for pointing this out!
In the meantime, here are my tricks and tips for a killer dough, if you will give it another shot (I really hope you do!):
- you need to use the paddle attachment of your mixer.
- Once the dough has come together, don't overmix it. Transfer onto your work surface lightly floured, and smear the dough using the palm of your hand, 3 times max. The objective is to make the small pieces of butter that might be still there to disappear without kneading the dough to avoid developing the gluten. It will make the dough elastic and it will be harder to roll out and alfajores will not hold their shape during baking).
- Here is a video you can watch on how to smear the dough and how you would make the dough by hand in case you don’t have a mixer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g8QR8tetMw&t=6s . The dough in the video is not chocolate, but you can add the cacao in with the flour.
- once the dough is chilled, let it rest a little at room temperature. It becomes really hard, and it can prove tricky to roll out. You are right!
- To make it easier, but not make it too hot and this difficult to roll out, you should tap it down with your rolling pin, along the whole surface of the dough, to flatten it out before rolling it out.
I hope this is of help to you. And once again so sorry for the late response!
Best,
Belen