chocolate and coffee alfajores cookies
The Classic South American alfajores are sometimes dipped in chocolate. But I like the look of all the layers and don’t want to camouflage them. So I added some grated dark chocolate to the cookie dough for my chocolate and coffee alfajores with dulce de leche. And what goes better with chocolate than coffee?? Nothing really… I am not a fan of instant espresso, but it really works well in this recipe. I stirred some instant espresso through the dulce de leche and it gave the caramel a lovely coffee taste. If you mix liquid espresso through the dulce the leche it will end up runny and make a mess.These cookies are also delicious eten straight from the freezer. Maybe I invented something new: “half frozen caramel ice cream sandwiches” ;-).
Chocolate and coffee dulce de leche alfajores
for about 20 cookies
1 can of sweetened condensed milk (around 390 grams)
1/2 teaspoon of instant espresso
125 grams cornstarch
175 grams flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
165 grams soft unsalted butter
50 grams sugar
3 egg yolks
30 grams of grated dark chocolate + extra for dipping
50 grams dessicated coconut
For the dulce de leche
Place a can of condensed milk in a saucepan and fill the pan with water up to 3/4 of the can. Place a lid on the pan en bring to a boil. Remove the wrapper as soon as it lets loose to prevent a mess… Leave to boil softly for about 3 hours. Check regularly to see if there still is enoug water in the pan. Some recipes say you have to make a few holes in the top of the can to prevent it from exploding. It never happened to me and I have been making this for a couple of years. Take the can out of the water and let it cool. Mix in the instant espresso.
For the biscuits
Sift the cornstarch, the flour, the baking powder and the salt into a big bowl. In another bowl beat the butter and the sugar light and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks one by one. Then beat in the grated chocolate. Beat in half of the flour mixture. Tip in the rest of the flour and quickly knead into a ball with your hands. The less time you handle the dough, the crunchier the cookies will turn out. Flatten the ball into a disc and wrap in clingfilm. Leave to rest in the fridge for about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F). Roll out the dough to 1/4 cm and cut into small rounds (∅ 5 cm) with a small glass of a cookie cutter. I used my ravioli cutter with a cute crinkled edge. Gather the rest of the dough together and repeat until all the dough is used up. Put the dough rounds on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper. They do not spread much. and bake in the middle of the oven for about 10 min. They should be cooked through but still be fairly light.
Leave the cookies on the cookie sheet to cool. Put the coconut in a small bowl. Put a dollop of dulce de leche on the bottom side of 1 cookie and press a second cookie on top. Roll the edges through the coconut.
Note: Fill the cookies not to long before you serve these cookies. The dulce de leche tends to drip out after a while.
This post is also available in: Dutch
