Alfajores

My daughter had a school project on Peru, and needed to bring in Peruvian food. She searched the Internet and found Alfajores. Alfajores are made with two cookies filled with dulce de leche and covered in powdered sugar. (I covered my own in coconut.)

My daughter choose a recipe from Martha Stewart's website http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/alfajores. The cookies have a consistency more of cake than of a cookie. Even the batter is thin like cake batter. It reminds me of the tops of cupcakes. They were good by themselves, but I think they would be delicious with butter cream frosting sandwiched in between.

The filling of dulce de leche was a little strange to me. It is very similar to caramel but sweeter. The  recipe I used was from my new cookbook Chocolates & Confections, and it was ridiculously easy. Basically you use a can of Sweetened Condensed Milk and poke holes in the top with a can opener. Then you cook the can in water for a few hours. After the cans have cooled you open them and... Ta Da, you have dulce de leche. Next time I try this I am going to add a little salt and maybe some vanilla when I scoop it out into a bow,l to give it more of a caramel flavor.