One of the best ways I know to enjoy the butterscotch-y goodness of the caramelized milk jam dulce de leche (page 15) is between a pair of buttery, citrus-scented cookies in the Latin American confection called alfajores de maicena. Named for the cornstarch (maicena) in the dough, the cookies are so delicate that they crumble as you eat them, their buttery flavor melding with the rich toffee notes of the dulce de leche. I fell hard for these treats when I first encountered them at Uruguayan American Valery Ketenjian’s bakery Alfa Alfajores in San Diego. Now I can’t get enough of them.
The name “alfajor” comes from a Hispano-Arabic word for “stuffed” and is an umbrella term for a wide variety of sandwich cookies hugely popular across Latin America and particularly in Argentina, where a billion of these treats are consumed annually. Besides the iconic dulce de leche–filled version, store shelves in that country teem with other styles showcasing different cookie types, fillings, coatings, and flavorings.
“When you’re eating it, it has to all melt in—Uruguayan American baker Valery Ketenjian
