I am excited to be sharing my first recipes here in Substack and these recipes are very close to my home. I want to have time and play around with some wholegrain alfajores and share them soon. I thought I was going to have more time to write my first recipes, but this week ended up being a hectic one in the end…. still mouth-watering recipes incoming.
What I am reading this week: I am finishing The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh, it’s the most interesting read I have read in a while. It falls in the climate change sphere but with a novelist approach and mostly all regarding spices and food colonisation. I have learnt so much from this book and it is written so eloquently, mixing ecology, history, literature and beyond.
What I am listening to this week: I recently discovered Regenerative Baking Podcast and fell in love with it. This episode with Rose Wilde resonated with me on deep levels (so deep I instantly went and bought her book) I am officially obsessed.
As a Chilean with an Argentinian dad growing up between both countries, there was always controversy about which country had the best alfajor, we had big conversations regarding the superiority of dulce de leche or manjar1, fair is to say, we never reached a consensus. After doing some research I could not find the exact origin of alfajores. However most food historians mention the Middle East as its place of origin. It was known “alajú” (the Arabic word meaning “stuffed” or “filled”). It’s believed that this cookie consisted of dried fruit preserves rolled in dough before being covered with sugar or nuts. When the Moors travelled from the Middle East to Spain, they brought with them these cookies. Soon, Spaniards started making their version: a cylindrical cookie covered in almonds or powdered sugar that they called an “alfajor”. But here is where it gets complicated… Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Peru (and probably a few more) all claim to have been the place of origin for alfajores in Latin America.
Alfajores from Spain were rectangular, but it was a French chemist living in Argentina who gave this treat the characteristic round shape it has today, his name was Augusto Chammás. Mr. Chammás opened a candy shop in 1869 in Córdova, Argentina and one of the most popular treats were the new round alfajores filled with dulce de leche.
However, alfajores can not only be found in Argentina, other countries also have their interpretation and several types. And if any Argentinians are reading this I admit as a Chilean that industrial Argentinian alfajores are so much better than Chileans (my personal favourite is Cachafaz brand) I haven’t found anyone selling these in the UK but I would love to eat one to remember me of home. However, artisanal Chilean and Peruvian alfajores are my favourites, but I admit there might be a lot of bias in this statement. For me as an immigrant is one of my comfort foods when I am missing home. So I tend to bake them quite regularly, even though growing up I didn’t because you could find them in most places.
There is even a world championship of alfajores in Argentina every year, with 19 categories! including the best dulce de leche, best original alfajor, exotic flavours and more. The overall winner of 2023 was a triple layer alfajor with one layer of dulce de leche and another of a creamy peanut butter ganache covered in bittersweet chocolate couverture. Alfajores move people in Latin America and are part of our identity.
I baked four different types of alfajores, the dough is the only thing that varies in my recipes, they are all filled with manjar. The dough is similar to shortbread, but you can play around with the amounts of fat, grains and sugars for different results.
Alfajores I baked:
Chilenitos are made with a bit of white wine and rolled super thin to make them crunchy.
Alfajores de maicena (cornflour alfajores) have a lot of cornflour, resulting in an extremely soft biscuit that melts in your mouth.
Empolvados are a sort of sponge cookie made by beating egg whites with sugar.
Alfajores Marplatences (from Mar del Plata, Argentina) is the most shortbread-like recipe, coated with chocolate couverture. This is the most common one to find in shops. There are many types in the industrial market (definitely some are better than others, so do some research if you are trying them for the first time).
I do bring manjar and dulce de leche in my suitcase every time I travel from home, but if this is not the case and you don’t have the time or want to make homemade dulce de leche, there are many shops in the UK, both, online and physical shops, where you can find it.
Empolvados
(the name translates as “dusted” because of the icing sugar on top)
Ingredients for 20 medium size emplovados
4 eggs
100 grs caster sugar
100 grs plain flour
5 grs cornflour
35 g icing sugar
Zest of one unwaxed lemon
400 grs approximately of dulce de leche for the filling
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170° C and cover two tins with baking paper or a silicon mat, set aside.
2. Beat the egg yolks with half the sugar and the lemon zest.
3. Beat the egg whites until stiff and add the sugar little by little, continue beating until the mixture is firm. Using a whisk, fold the beaten egg whites into the yolks with gentle movements to keep the air.
4. Then gradually incorporate the sifted flour and cornflour.
5. Pour the mixture into a piping bag with a round nozzle and make 5 cm diameter circles on the tray.
6. Bake for 7 minutes or until dry to the touch.
7. Once cold, fill a piping bag with dulce de leche and close alfajores, finish by dusting icing sugar on top.
- Empolvados are actually better the next day so if you can restrain yourself hold them for one day and the flavour will be much better. Keep in an airtgight container up to 4 days.
- Depending on the dulce de leche spread you use if it is too thick you can add milk to thin it down, you can also add some liquor (I like pisco for this) but also some vanilla extract or orange liquor works good as
well.
Chilenitos
Ingredients for 25 chilenitos
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