These are sweet sandwich cookies. Two buttery shortbread cookies filled with gooey dulce de leche (a caramel-like spread). We eat them year-round as they make great finger desserts for parties and festive occasions. Different from my traditional cornstarch alfajores, but just as delicious and a great addition for afternoon tea or the holiday cookie tray.
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This is a variation of alfajores that has been around for decades now, but it is not the most traditional, at least not in Argentina (the largest consumer worldwide), where I'm from. When someone says alfajores, they usually refer to chocolate-covered alfajores, the most popular of all, or cornstarch dulce de leche cookies.
These ones today are meant to be small and are a staple with coffee, for tea parties and as a finger dessert.
Testing notes
Paula's baking tips that make a difference.
Organization: read the recipe first and ensure you have ingredients at the correct temperature, equipment, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier.
Do a test bake. I recommend this every time you try a new cookie recipe, as it's easy to bake a couple and see how it goes. Take notes and adjust thickness and baking time as needed to suit your preference.
These are light-colored, soft, delicate cookies, so bake until barely starting to color. Don't be tempted to bake them longer, as they will be too crisp and won't soften as they should.
They are better filled in advance, at least a few hours, so the filling has a chance to soften the cookies. You can keep them in a
Ingredients
Quantities are listed in the recipe card towards the end of this post. The Ingredients page has more details and lists the brands we use.
- Baking powder: make sure it hasn't expired.
- Vanilla extract: It's a star flavor, so use the best one you can afford.
- Almond extract: It's optional, and I usually use it. But don't go buy it specifically for this recipe. Try them first with just vanilla, which is the traditional flavor.
- Dulce de leche: We're using it as a filling, so we need the thicker kind that holds better, like dulce de leche repostero Vacalin. Don't use regular dulce de leche as it will drip outside the sandwich.
- Powdered sugar to dust before serving, also known as confectioners' sugar or icing sugar, depending on where you are.
How to make shortbread dough
- By hand: I use a large bowl, a whisk and a spatula. If the butter is soft, mixing everything is simple.
- Electric mixer: You can use a handheld mixer, but make sure you use it at low speed. This is not a dough that needs beating or anything like it. If you use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix at the lowest speed.
- Cookie cutters: I use a small round cutter, which is the traditional shape. The dough doesn't change much during baking, and the cookies will mostly keep their shape, so you can, technically, use other forms. Still, I recommend using simple patterns.
Easy dough
The final dough is soft to the touch and neither sticky nor dry. It needs to be covered in plastic wrap (or freezer sheets as I do) and refrigerated before rolling.
Rolling
Roll dough in 2 parts as it's easier to keep it cool and to work with. If you are making these cookies for the first time, I recommend you roll thinner and thicker rounds (a few of each), bake them and see which ones you like the most.
- Preheated oven: always make sure it's on before you start rolling the dough. If you forgot, place the sheets in the fridge while the oven reaches the desired temperature.
- Preparing the cookie sheets: I use parchment paper or lightly buttered sheets; both work well.
- You should leave space between the rounds, but not much since the cookies won't expand much.
Dulce de leche filling
Dulce de leche is a sweet milk jam, a cousin to caramel, made with milk, sugar, and baking soda, the latter being responsible for its dark color.
Don't use the classic dulce de leche made at home; it's too fluid and will not hold well.
Brands I recommend
For fillings, you need to use what we call pastry dulce de leche. It's much thicker than the regular kind. Look for the word "repostero" on the label. The best one available online (that I also use here!) is Vacalin Dulce de Leche Repostero. Another good one is Veronica dulce de leche repostero. If you want to buy in bulk, a great one is San Ignacio repostero (22 pounds) or my favorite, Vacalin repostero (22 pounds).
The traditional filling was, is, and will always be dulce de leche.
- Piping bag: you can use it with a smooth, plain piping tip for a more even and neater filling, or use a teaspoon and get more of an irregular filling.
- Filling-cookie ratio: this is a fundamental part, and you must find the one that you like the most. You can bake thinner or thicker cookie rounds and use a thinner or thicker layer of dulce de leche. Do a few tests first; that is my recommendation.
I sure do hope you try this recipe for shortbread alfajores.
It is easy, and they are incredibly delicious. I imagine many of you have never tried them, so trust me when I say the flavor is sweet but amazing and that they might become a favorite fast.
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Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies (shortbread-style)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract, optional; for me, it improves the overall flavor
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups pastry dulce de leche, estimated amount for the filling. Use the thick, pastry type, like dulce de leche repostero Vacalin.
Instructions
- In a bowl, beat ¾ cup unsalted butter with ¾ cup sugar just until incorporated.
- Add 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and ¼ teaspoon almond extract and beat for 1 minute.
- In 2 or 3 parts, add sifted 2 cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt. You can sift them before or have the ingredients measured and sift them directly over the butter mixture (my choice). It will be a soft but not sticky dough.
- Wrap it and chill it for 2 hours or overnight. It can be in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or frozen for a few weeks (defrost in the refrigerator the day before).
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F (180ºC).
- Have baking sheets ready; no need to butter or line them with parchment paper, but you can.
- Roll the dough in 2 parts and leave the unused piece covered in the refrigerator. You can use two large pieces of parchment paper or a lightly floured surface to roll the dough. I put the dough in the middle and roll it between the pieces of paper. The dough is cold but does not crack when rolled.
- Chill it again until cold, and use a round cookie cutter to cut cookies. Dip the cutter's edge in flour and shake off the excess before cutting (prevents the dough from sticking to the cutter). These are meant to be small. I use a 1.18-inch (3cm) plain round cookie cutter.
- Place them on the cookie sheet and bake for about 10 to 15 minutes, until they are dry and just beginning to color. It depends a lot on the thickness of the dough, so watch the cookies closely.
- Let them cool completely on a metal cooling rack.
- Fill half the cookies with about 2 cups pastry dulce de leche. The amount will vary depending on how much you like each sandwich cookie to have. I like it to be about as thick as the cookie.
- Dust the other half of the cookies with powdered sugar before placing them on top of the filling and pressing lightly to assemble the alfajores.
Maria says
I made this recipe and the dough was too sweet, something was missing in this recipe the taste was nothing like the alfajores I’ve tasted before. Bummer I was very excited to try them but not what we thought.
Caroline says
These are the best!
Charleen says
After following you for a long time & seeing your lovely recipes - I would love to make these! But using cup measurements does not give consistent results.
Is it not possible you can start posting with metric/weight measurments?
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Charleen, you have a button you can toggle to switch between US and metric.