Over the past five years, Latin food has become popular in Houston. I remember our local gourmet supermarket used to have a fair with products from Argentina. They have Alfajores, the most common ones with the cookie made out of cornstarch and Chocolate Alfajores Havanna.
If you are an old-time reader, you may remember my mother-in-law is Argentinian, and at her house, I was introduced to Alfajores Havanna. They are unique, with a soft chocolate cookie that melts in your mouth. And they are filled with Dulce de Leche, a perfect complement to the semi-bitter chocolate coating. They are addictive.
I made these Chocolate Alfajores for International Night at my kid’s school. I love this celebration, our school in Houston gathers students from more than 25 different countries. Hence, there was food from Ethiopia, South Africa, Sweden, Russia, Cameroon, China, Japan, Israel, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Japan, France, and Chile!
In Chile, this kind of Alfajores is usually associated with the Sausalito brand initially from Viña del Mar, a beach city close to the capital.
* Recipe updated with new photos September 2017 *
You may also be interested in the recipe: Cornstarch Alfajores
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Chocolate Alfajores, Chilean recipe
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
- Yield: 30
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Chilean
Description
The cookie you having dreaming about it.
Ingredients
- 170 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
- 130 grams of light brown sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 20 grams of honey
- 340 grams of flour without baking powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
for the filling,
- 500 grams of Dulce de Leche
for coverage,
- 200 grams of semi-bitter chocolate, I use one with 60% cocoa
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Instructions
- To make the dough. In a large bowl with the paddle mixer attachment. Beat the butter until creamy and pale, about 5 minutes, add sugar, mix until smooth (3 minutes), add the eggs one by one, and beat until combined. Add honey and vanilla, beat everything for 2 minutes.
- Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, add to the previous mixture and mix with a wooden spoon (do not use the mixer) until a soft and moist dough forms. Wrap in kitchen plastic and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350F or 180C.
- Divide dough into 4 and scoop out a quarter and make a ball. Roll the dough thin 1/3″ over a floured countertop. Cut the Alfajores in circles of 3 cm in diameter, place them on an oven tray covered with parchment paper.
- Bake for 5 minutes on each baking sheet (without removing the paper). The dough will slightly rise in the oven. Remove and let cool in a grid on the same paper.
- Once baked and cooled, you can put them in a plastic bag and freeze them. Repeat with the remaining 3 pieces of dough.
- Fill the Alfajores with Dulce de Leche. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, chop the chocolate into small pieces, add the vegetable oil, melt in the microwave slowly, 30 seconds each go. Remove, stir for 1 minute, and melt in the microwave until all the chocolate is dissolved.
- Use a spoon to cover the Alfajores. It is best to cover the sides first and then the top.
- Let dry and serve.
Keywords: Chocolate alfajor, chilean alfajor, chilean cookies
Se ven deliciosos !
Gracias!
¡Me encanté los alfahores, resultaron muy bien! Mi parte favorita fue cuando cocinando las galletas y dulce de leche. Yo tengo una sugerencia: para una otra tiempo, me gustaría las medidas en Emperical tambien porque yo vivo en los Estados Unidos y es un poquito difícil de convertir “grams” a “cups”. ¡Gracias!
Acá encuentras más información sobre conversiones https://www.enmicocinahoy.cl/datos-medidas-y-conversiones/ Suerte!
*alfajores. ¡Lo siento!
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Hi
In the recipe mention these ingredients; baking soda and baking power, but in the instructions on how to make them, only mention baking soda. Please can you tell me which one I follow? Thanks for sharing the recipe
Fixed. Thanks. Good luck!
How long would these keep in the fridge? 2 weeks? Thank you
They are best 2-3 days after making them. If you want to keep them longer I would recommend freezing them for up to 3 months.
I made these for my chilean mom for mothers day and they were perfect!! Really easy instructions to follow and they looked and tasted amazing!!
I’m so glad you did. Thanks for coming back to comment.
HELLO
I DID THE COOKIES WITH A GOOD OUTCOME WITH ONE TWIST THAT WAS: 200 GRAM OF CHOPPED (2-4 MM) ALMONDS, I FRIED IT TOGETHER WITH 50 GRAM OF SUGAR-POWDER. YOU MUST MIX IT ALL THE TIME WITH A WOODEN SPOON UNTIL THE ALMONDS ARE COATED WITH THE SUGAR (DON’T BURN IT). THEN PUT SOME SWEETENED ALMONDS ON EACH COOKIE WHILE THE CHOCOLATE IS STILL LIQUID. IF YOU DON’T HAVE AT HOME SUGAR-POWDER, YOU CAN MAKE IT. USE THE BLENDER WITH ONE CUP OF REGULAR SUGAR AND A TEASPOON OF CORN FLOUR UNTIL IT BECOME SUGAR-POWDER.
GOOD LUCK
MARCEL YANCO
Do you really mean 1/3 inch thick and only 3 cm diameter? These look delicious. Thanks!
Yes, both.
Thank you. They are quite small. A 3-cm cutter made about 40.
I would suggest that anyone counting on serving these to company do a trial run. The cookies are quite fragile. My dulce de leche (made with a can of condensed milk) came out too thin, so it was running out the sides and the tops were slipping and sliding and the bottoms were crumbling. I’ve put the second half of plain cookies in the freezer in the hopes that that will help, and I’m cooking the dulce de leche another hour to see if it will thicken up.
Looking forward to the chocolate coating!
This is not a. project to do with children.
I agree, these are delicate, bakery cookies. Here is my recipe for the Dulce de Leche https://www.chileanfoodandgarden.com/condensed-milk-into-dulce-de-leche/
I am using the US conversion and when I took the dough out of the fridge after nearly two hours it was still so sticky, almost like a mousse consistency. I tried to roll it out on flour but it didn’t help and just stuck to the rolling pin. Is it possible one of the Ingredients is different? I followed recipe to a tee.
I checked the US conversion, and they are not correct. It’s software not done by a person. I’m sorry, it seems to work most of the time, but it’s very off in this recipe. I will turn it off. I always weigh the ingredients for cookies because they are finicky.
I’m so sorry. (It gave you more sugar and way less flour than the one needed it).