Easy Walnut Alfajores Recipe

If you never tried alfajores before these will blow your mind. Why? Because they are filled with dulce de leche!
These are made with walnut cookies and they are freaking fantastic!

Seriously, if you never tried alfajores you should as fast as you can. You won't believe what a spoonful of dulce de leche can do to a cookie! Mind-blowing.

I hail from Argentina where dulce de leche was first invented and where the consumption of alfajores is off the charts. And I mean that literally: 6M (that's six million!) alfajores are eaten every single day here! Every day. I live here and I'm still hesitant to admit it so don't worry if you think we're nuts. We probably are.

Anyway, there is such an immense variety of alfajores in this country I probably don't know about half of them.

So, for the sake of this post, let's stay close to our alfajores here, a recipe that uses the much-loved chocolate chip cookie as a base for the nut cookies.

I added only walnuts to my favorite cookie recipe, formed the dough into cylinders (image below), wrapped them and let them park in the fridge for 2 days before baking them.

The flavor is amazing. The nuts toast and the cookie dough has that caramel undertone we all love.

So, what are alfajores?

An alfajor (singular) is a sandwich made of two discs of dough with a filling in between.

They are very popular in South America, especially Argentina, Perú and Uruguay.

The most traditional ones are two: one made with cornstarch shortbread cookies with coconut on the sides, and the other made with a vanilla dough and covered with dark chocolate. Both are filled with dulce de leche, of course.

Steps for making these fantastic walnut alfajores.

1. Make walnut cookie dough.
2. Freeze in a cylinder. These favors having a rounder cookie, but you can make them the way you usually make chocolate chip cookies.
3. Cut the cookies half an inch or so and arrange on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (image above).
4. Bake them (image below). Let cool completely.
5. Fill them with dulce de leche (more info below).
6. Eat them and wait to feel amazed at the flavor!

So what you see as an innocent walnut cookie in the image above, turns into this mind-blowing alfajor (or sandwich cookie) that will completely change you. Trust me.

Starting to fill everything with dulce de leche is a one-way trip.

Case in point: Dulce de Leche Brownies, everyday Vanilla Layer Cake, Birthday Chocolate Cake, and the most amazing Banana Muffin Cake.

What is dulce de leche?

Dulce de leche is a sweet jam (image below) made with milk, sugar and baking soda, the latter being accountable for its dark color. It takes a few hours to make and there are as many tips and tricks as there are grandmothers in this country. Each with its own recipe.

We have an abundance of brands and styles, pretty much like peanut butter in the US. So we use it a lot as you might imagine.

The flavor is very sweet, similar to caramel but not quite. It does have a milk undertone, something that caramel lacks, and some might say it’s not as sophisticated, and they might be right. I’m a raving fan so my opinion is biased.

You can easily buy it online. Brands I recommend are Cachafaz and Havanna.

Filling the cookies.

There are two ways of sandwiching the dulce de leche filling:

1. Spoon: this is my favorite way because it means taking a tablespoon of dulce de leche and arranging it in the middle of one cookie. When you press down with the second one it flattens out a bit and you get your alfajor. The result is rustic and not picture perfect. Which is fine since these are meant to be eaten at home.
2. Piping bag: you can pipe the dulce de leche. This is a great way of filling these alfajores if you sell them or want to give them out as gifts. It is more time and labor-intensive, though not complicated.

Tips & tricks for making this recipe.

• Cookies: they are better is baked barely soft. Not underbaked. But a softer cookie is better because when you bite the alfajor the cookies are not hard and the dulce de leche doesn't ooze out before you're able to take a bite.
• Dulce de leche: there are two common types of dulce de leche, regular and pastry. The latter is better for filling alfajores because it holds better, it's thicker. You can buy them online: small container or large (almost 5-pound) container.
• Keeping: they can be kept in tins or airtight containers, but if they are already filled, they will soften as the days go by. I find this to be a plus, but if you don't, you can keep the cookies alone in a tin and fill them when ready to eat.

Other recipes you might like:
The Best Dulce de Leche Brownies
Walnut Quick Bread
Easy Oatmeal Walnut Cookies
Dulce de Leche Coconut Fudge Truffles
Banana Muffin Cake
Maple Walnut Pound Cake

Easy Walnut Alfajores Recipe

★★★★★ 5 from 11 reviews

• Author: Paula Montenegro
• Prep Time: 20
• Cook Time: 12
• Total Time: 32 minutes
• Yield: 15 medium alfajores 1x
• Category: Cookies
• Method: Baking
• Cuisine: International

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Description

Easy Walnut Alfajores: they are made with walnut cookies and filled with dulce de leche. A super easy recipe that yields fantastic results!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• ½ cup (110g) unsalted butter, at room t°
• ¾ cup (150g) light brown sugar
• ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
• 1 egg, at room t°
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons (250g) all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (150g) walnuts, chopped
• Dulce de leche, for filling

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F /180°C.
2. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl beat soft butter with both sugars.
4. Add egg and vanilla and mix very well.
5. Add sifted dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) in 2 additions and mix.
6. Add nuts and mix well.
7. Have prepared a piece of plastic wrap, put half of the batter along the long side of the plastic.
8. Taking one long side, wrap it over the cookie dough and roll the plastic to cover tightly and produce a cylinder.
9. Prick with a fork and let the trapped air out. That way the plastic will stick to the dough.
10. Roll lightly to make the cylinder as round as possible.
11. Freeze it for several hours or up to a month.
12. When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F /180°C.
13. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
14. Take out cookie cylinders from the freezer and wait 5-10 minutes until they can be cut with a sharp kitchen knife.
15. They don’t have to be soft or they will loose the shape.
16. Cut rounds about ½ inch thick and place on prepared cookie sheets.
17. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden but barely soft.
18. Let cool completely on wire rack and fill.
19. Take heaped spoonfuls of dulce de leche and place on flat side of one cookie.
20. Cover with anothe cookie and press lightly to spread the dulce de leche.
21. They will become softer the next day.

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Notes

Tips & tricks for making this recipe.

• Cookies: they are better is baked barely soft. Not underbaked. But a softer cookie is better because when you bite the alfajor the cookies are not hard and the dulce de leche doesn't ooze out before you're able to take a bite.
• Dulce de leche: there are two common types of dulce de leche, regular and pastry. The latter is better for filling alfajores because it holds better, it's thicker. You can buy them online: small container or large (almost 5-pound) container.
• Keeping: they can be kept in tins or airtight containers, but if they are already filled, they will soften as the days go by. I find this to be a plus, but if you don't, you can keep the cookies alone in a tin and fill them when ready to eat.

Filling the cookies.

There are two ways of sandwiching the dulce de leche filling:

1. Spoon: this is my favorite way because it means taking a tablespoon of dulce de leche and arranging it in the middle of one cookie. When you press down with the second one it flattens out a bit and you get your alfajor. The result is rustic and not picture perfect. Which is fine since these are meant to be eaten at home.
2. Piping bag: you can pipe the dulce de leche. This is a great way of filling these alfajores if you sell them or want to give them out as gifts. It is more time and labor-intensive, though not complicated.

Keywords: walnut alfajores, walnut cookie alfajores

Paula Montenegro

I'm Paula, a baker for more than 30 years and your designated recipe finder, sharing the best ones on this blog, with simple ingredients + easy-to-follow instructions.