• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Chilean
    • Chilean Appetizers & Beverages
    • Chilean Breads
    • Chilean Breakfast
    • Chilean Cakes & Bakes
    • Chilean Cookies & Candy
    • Chilean Desserts
    • Chilean Jams & Jellies
    • Chilean Meat
    • Chilean Pasta, Rice & Potatoes
    • Chilean Poultry
    • Chilean Salads
    • Chilean Seafood
    • Chilean Soups & Starters
    • Chilean Vegetables
  • Savory
    • Breakfast
      • Eggs
    • Appetizers
      • Cocktails
    • Entrees
      • Beef
      • Empanadas (EN)
      • Chicken
      • Fish
      • Pork
      • Shellfish
    • Side dishes
      • Pasta
      • Rice
      • Potatoes
    • Vegetables
    • Salads
    • Sandwiches (en)
    • Soups
    • Breads
  • Sweet
    • Cakes & Bakes
    • Candy
    • Chocolate
    • Cookies
    • Cupcakes
    • Desserts
    • Jam, Frosting & Jellies
    • Pies
    • Sweet bread

Pilar's Chilean Food & Garden

A recipe blog by a Chilean living in the USA

  • Houston Gardening
  • Español
  •         
  •           

Peruvian Cornstarch Alfajores

October 18, 2019 by Pilar Hernandez 2 Comments

Versión en español

Peruvian Cornstarch AlfajoresPeruvian Cornstarch Alfajores are my favorite cookies, I grew up eating them. In my family, any special occasion such as a birthday, baptism, family reunion, etc required a cookie buffet and Peruvian cornstarch Alfajores were always present.

This recipe is perfect, I’ve made it many times and these cookies have that sandy delicate texture that dissolves in the mouth, not very sweet, that complements the Dulce de Leche and crunchy walnuts.

Eat them carefully, because of the powdered sugar. It flies everywhere, and usually dusts black clothes … one option is to wear white or, what I do, make them small to eat them in one bite.
Alfajores de maicenaThis recipe is adapted from our old family recipe and an old recipe from a Chilean magazine. These cookies keep their shape, so you can cut them in different shapes.

Visit our collection of Chilean recipes here.

Print
clock clock icon cutlery cutlery icon flag flag icon folder folder icon instagram instagram icon pinterest pinterest icon facebook facebook icon print print icon squares squares icon
Peruvian Cornstarch Alfajor

Peruvian Cornstarch Alfajores

★★★★★ 4.7 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Pilar Hernandez
  • Prep Time: 40 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 35 1x
  • Category: Sweets
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: Peruvian
Print
Pin

Description

Melt in your mouth cornstarch cookies.


Scale

Ingredients

  • 225 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 4 egg yolks at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 cup flour without baking powder
  • Powdered sugar for dusting
  • chopped walnuts or ground nuts or coconut to decorate the edge, optional
  • Dulce de Leche, I used the Nestle can, available in Latin supermarkets

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, beat the butter with the sugar, until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks one at a time, fully beating in, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and mix well.
  2. Add all the flour and cornstarch and mix until crumbs are formed,  then use your hands to form a soft dough. Wrap in plastic film and let stand in refrigerator for 30 minutes minimum, or leave it overnight.
  3. Preheat oven to 350F or 180C.
  4. Divide dough into 2, roll until it is 1/2 cm. thick, don’t roll them thin because they are very fragile. Cut circles (I used one of 2cm in diameter) and bake on a baking sheet cover with parchment Silpat in a preheated oven at 180C or 350F for 13-15 minutes until they are lightly browned underneath, you can put them fairly close together since they almost do not grow.
  5. Cool completely on the baking sheet.
  6. Fill with the Dulce de Leche. Optional around the edges too and roll in the ground walnuts.
  7. Finally dust with powdered sugar, through a sieve.
  8. Let stand 2 hours before serving, or you can fill them the day before. They last well three days in a locked box on the counter.

Keywords: cornstarch alfajores

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @chileanfoodandgarden on Instagram and hashtag it #chileanfoodandgarden

alfajor-maicenaAlfajores de maicena paso a paso alfajor-maicena-3
Alfajores de maicena paso a paso alfajor-maicena-5 alfajor-maicena-6 alfajor-maicena-7 alfajor-maicena-8 Peruvian Cornstarch Alfajores

Peruvian Cornstarch Alfajores

Cornstarch Peruvian Alfajor

Pin117
Share12
Tweet
129 Shares

Filed Under: Cookies, Kids' food, Peruvian Food, Sweet treats

About Pilar Hernandez

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published.

  1. Ana says

    June 27, 2020 at 6:42 am

    I tried making alfajores just with only cornstarch and it tasted really bad. I had to throw it away.. I had a really bad aftertaste. Could I be using the wrong cornstarch?

    Reply
    • Pilar Hernandez says

      June 27, 2020 at 2:15 pm

      Maybe, make sure is pure cornstarch, a great brand is Bob’s Red Mill, see the packaging here https://amzn.to/2BfqxGh (affiliated link)

      Reply

Footer

Search





Copyright © 2021 Pilar's Chilean Food & Garden