Chocolate | Cookies | Sweet Treats

Chocolate Alfajores with Dulce de Leche

Name: Chocolate Alfajores with Dulce de Leche
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 3 h 38 min
Cuisine: Argentinian
Ingredients: 100 g Unsalted Butter; 50 g Powdered Sugar; 1 Egg Yolks; 125 g All-purpose Flour; 25 g Cacao Powder; 350 g Dulce de Leche

This alfajores recipe is easy to make. Made by 2 chocolate shortbread cookies, filled with dulce de leche and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Belula November 03, 2020

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90° shot of a stack of chocolate alfajores

Alfajores are a classic treat I grew up with. If you go to a Kiosk in Argentina, you can probably choose from no less than 20 different alfajores brand! And I am being cautious over here 😉. They are a big thing over there, we take alfajores seriously! And an even bigger thing for any argentine living abroad. I am part for several facebook groups of argentine expats and probably one in three posts are related to alfajores, how to make them or where to get them! This a simple chocolate alfajores recipe that you can make in one afternoon. Hope you love it as much as I do.

What are alfajores?

If you want to know more about alfajores, you can check this page What Are Alfajores? Your Guide to the South American Treat.

45° shot of one chocolate alfajor with a bite off

How to make alfajores?

For this alfajores recipe you will need to assemble 2 main components:

Alfajores cookies
Dulce de leche

Once the chocolate cookies have been baked and cooled off you must:

Turn half of the alfajores cookies over and fill each with a spoonful of dulce de leche at the center.
Top each one with another chocolate cookies. Gently press down to evenly spread the dulce de leche feeling.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Enjoy!

Overhead shot of the alfajores cookies turned around and filled with dulce de leche

Overhead shot once hand piping the filling onto the alfajores cookies

Overhead shot one hand gently pressing the cookie onto the other cookie

Overhead shot of a hand sprinkling powdered sugar onto the chocolate alfajores

Some tips on how to get that nice round shape for your alfajores cookies.

The key is working with cold dough throughout the whole process. It might mean they will take a little longer, but it is worth it:

Shortbread chocolate cookie dough: once it is done, you should refrigerate for at least 2 hours before rolling out.
After rolling out and before cutting the 5 cm rounds, it should go back in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
After cutting the rounds, and placing them on a lined baking sheet pop them back into the refrigerator for another 30 minutes (minimum).

Overhead shot of bowl with the powdered sugar and the softened butter

Overhead shot of the sifted flour and cacao on a piece of parchement paper

Overhead shot of a bowl with the softened butter/sugar mixture plus the egg yolk and 1/3 of the dry ingredients

Overhead shot of a bowl holding the cookie dough plus the dry ingredients

Overhead shot of the shortbread chocolate dough shaped as a rectangle on a piece of parchment paper

Overhead shot of 2 hands holding the alfajores cookie dough covered in parchment paper

Overhead shot of the rolled-out dough cut into circles

Overhead shot of the alfajores cookies on a baking tray ready for the oven

What kind of dulce de leche should you use?

You can use any kind of dulce de leche you can find if it holds up. If it spreads fast, you should find another one. Trial and error.

I like to use argentine dulce de leche for my alfajores. I may be biased though 😉.

How long do alfajores last?

You can keep this chocolate alfajores for about 5 days at room temperature. If you live in a humid place, make sure to store them in an airtight container.

Can alfajores be frozen?

I discourage you from freezeing them once they are assembled and filled with dulce de leche.

However, you can freeze the alfajores cookie dough after you have cut the 5 cm rounds. Freeze on a baking sheet covered, once they are frozen transfer to a freezer container. You can freeze them for up to 3 months.

45° shot of one chocolate alfajor filled with dulce de leche

90° shot of a stack of 5 chocolate alfajores

To defrost: place the chocolate shortbread cookies on a baking tray for 15 minutes before baking.

Variations to this chocolate alfajores recipe

You can use different fillings:

Nutella
Chocolate dulce de leche ganache. Find a recipe here Chocolate Dulce De Leche Cake.
Raspberry jam. Find a recipe here Raspberry Macarons.

The ingredients used in all recipes on this site are measured using the metric system. I use a scale to be precise with my measurements and ensure good results. If you would also like to use a scale, here are some: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, France.

Chocolate Alfajores with Dulce de Leche

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours 38 minutes

Servings: 15 alfajores

Nutrition: 168 cal

Cuisine: Argentinian

Ingredients

Unsalted Butter 100 g
Powdered Sugar 50 g
Egg Yolks 1
All-purpose Flour 125 g
Cacao Powder 25 g
Dulce de Leche 350 g

Procedure

1. Sift the flour and the cacao together.
2. Mix the softened butter with the powdered sugar.
3. Add the egg yolk and 1/3 of the flour/cacao mixture and mix until combined.
4. Add the rest of the flour/cacao and mix until a dough has formed. Don't knead.
5. Shape into a rectangle, cover with parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 170 C° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
7. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out to ¾ mm thick on a lightly floured surface. Make sure you always have a little flour under the dough to prevent it from sticking and breaking. Chill for 30 minutes.
8. Cut rounds of 5 cm in diameter and place them on the lined baking sheet, living space between them. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Once they are ready transfer to a wire rack and let them cool down. They are fragile so use a small spatula to do this.
10. Turn half of the alfajores cookies over and fill each with a spoonful of dulce de leche at the center.
11. Top each one with another chocolate cookie. Gently press it down to evenly spread the dulce de leche feeling.
12. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!

If you made this recipe I would really appreciate it if you leave a rating or comment below! Also, if you share on social media please use #cookwithbelula, I would love to see what you create!

3 comments

(3)

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3 Comments

Vi Hoang January 05, 2021

The dough did not come all right. It was way too crumbly and hard. I had to throw it away unfortunately. Perhaps more explanation on how to work the dough would be nice. All it says is no kneading

Belula March 23, 2021

HI Vi Hoang! Firstly, I apologise for the super late response to your comment!
So sorry to hear the dough didn’t come out right! It is a recipe close to my heart and we need to fix this. Reviewing the post I can see that there are no detailed instructions on how to actually make the dough itself. I’ll be updating the post to include this explanation, thanks for pointing this out!
In the meantime, here are my tricks and tips for a killer dough, if you will give it another shot (I really hope you do!):
- you need to use the paddle attachment of your mixer.
- Once the dough has come together, don't overmix it. Transfer onto your work surface lightly floured, and smear the dough using the palm of your hand, 3 times max. The objective is to make the small pieces of butter that might be still there to disappear without kneading the dough to avoid developing the gluten. It will make the dough elastic and it will be harder to roll out and alfajores will not hold their shape during baking).
- Here is a video you can watch on how to smear the dough and how you would make the dough by hand in case you don’t have a mixer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g8QR8tetMw&t=6s . The dough in the video is not chocolate, but you can add the cacao in with the flour.
- once the dough is chilled, let it rest a little at room temperature. It becomes really hard, and it can prove tricky to roll out. You are right!
- To make it easier, but not make it too hot and this difficult to roll out, you should tap it down with your rolling pin, along the whole surface of the dough, to flatten it out before rolling it out.
I hope this is of help to you. And once again so sorry for the late response!
Best,
Belen

Emily March 23, 2021

Loved them! Thanks for the amazing recipe!

Belula March 23, 2021

HI Emily! Glad you you enjoyed the alfajores! Thanks for making them!

Susan May 02, 2021

I've been looking for a good alfajores recipe, and I'll be saving this one! Thanks for sharing!

Belula May 02, 2021

Hi Susan! So happy you enjoyed this recipe! It is my pleasure to share my recipes here. Thank you for your feedback!