Two soft round biscuits sandwiched with dulce de leche and finished in chocolate or rolled in desiccated coconut. Argentina's most-eaten sweet; Havanna's chocolate-coated Marplatense version is the international export.

The alfajor traces to Andalusian Moorish baking and crossed to South America with Spanish colonisation; in Argentina the Spanish almond-paste filling was replaced with local dulce de leche. The Marplatense (Mar del Plata) version, dipped in chocolate, was invented by Havanna in 1948 in Mar del Plata and now sells about 300 million units a year nationally.

Where to eat Alfajor in Buenos Aires

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Make it at home

Serves 122 hrIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 100g cornstarch (maicena)
  • 100g plain flour
  • 100g unsalted butter, soft
  • 75g caster sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 300g dulce de leche (homemade or shop-bought)
  • 200g dark chocolate, for coating (or 50g desiccated coconut for the rolled version)

Method

  1. Cream butter and sugar until pale. Beat in egg yolks, vanilla and lemon zest.
  2. Sift in flour, cornstarch and baking powder. Fold to a soft dough. Wrap and chill 30 minutes.
  3. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to 5mm thick. Cut 5cm rounds; you should get 24.
  4. Place on lined baking trays. Bake at 170C (340F) for 10-12 minutes until set but not browned. Cool fully on the trays.
  5. Sandwich pairs of biscuits with 1 tablespoon of dulce de leche each.
  6. For chocolate-coated: melt dark chocolate; dip alfajores fully, place on baking paper to set.
  7. For coconut-rolled: roll the exposed dulce edge in desiccated coconut.
  8. Rest 2 hours before serving so the biscuits soften.

Editor tip. The biscuits should taste of butter and lemon and crumble like maicena, not snap like shortbread.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Egg.