Coconut-caramel alfajores
Makes: 18
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Ant Duncan
Coconut-caramel alfajores
Recipe by Sarah Cook
Alfajores are filled sandwich cookies from South America, where recipes and flavour combinations differ from region to region – this is one of the most popular versions, filled with dulce de leche. The mix of cornflour and regular flour gives the biscuits a real melt-in-the-mouth texture
Makes: 18
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
232Kcal
Fat
12gr
Saturates
7gr
Carbs
29gr
Sugars
11gr
Fibre
1gr
Protein
3gr
Salt
0.2gr
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Ingredients
- 175g plain flour, plus extra to dust
- 175g cornflour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1⁄2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 150g soft unsalted butter
- 100g caster sugar
- 3 medium egg yolks
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- about 200g dulce de leche or caramel
- about 40g desiccated coconut
Step by step
Get ahead
The biscuit dough can be kept chilled for up to 3 days before rolling, or frozen for up to 3 months. Filled biscuits will keep for a week in an airtight tin.
- Sift together the flours, baking powder, bicarb and a pinch of salt. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy, then beat in the egg yolks one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture until just combined to a smooth dough (try not to overmix or the biscuits might be tough). Shape into a disc, wrap and chill for 1-11⁄2 hours or until firm enough to roll. If you chill it for longer, you might need to let it sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before rolling.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the chilled dough to 5mm thick. Use a 5cm round cutter to stamp out biscuits – you should be able to get about 36 biscuits by re-rolling the trimmings. Space them out on lined baking trays.
- Chill the biscuits for 20-30 minutes before baking, so they keep their shape. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Bake the biscuits for 8-10 minutes until turning golden at the edges. Cool for 10 minutes on the trays, then cool completely on wire racks.
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Sandwich the biscuits together with heaped teaspoonfuls of the dulce de leche, enough so that when you press the biscuits together, the caramel oozes out a little at the sides. Put the desiccated coconut in a shallow bowl and roll the sides of each sandwiched cookie in the coconut to coat.Waste notHave leftover desiccated coconut? Thread fresh pineapple chunks onto small skewers. Half dip into melted chocolate and coat with desiccated coconut. Leave to set.
