Alfajores

Alfajores are a kind of cookie sandwich found in South America (In particular Argentina); but I had them first in Peru. They were so good I had to come home and make some when procrastinating revision! The cornflour makes the biscuit extremely light and crumbly, offsetting the caramel perfectly ...

Alfajores
Prep time: 20 minutes plus chilling
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Cooking temp: Gas 4, 180 C

Ingredients
125g cornflour
 105g plain white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
113g unsalted butter, room temp.
67g white granulated sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tbsp lemon juice *
1/2 tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Can of Dulche de Leche (caramel)
OR make if yourself using my standard recipe:
150g butter
150g dark muscavado
Can of condensed milk
(this will make wayy too much but there are plenty of other uses)

Method

1. Place the dry ingredients (flours, baking powders) in a bowl and combine briefly 
2. In a mixer/blender, whisk the butter and sugar to a cream, then add the yolks, lemon juice, water and vanilla extract. Whisk.
3. Add the flour mixture to this slowly until you have a smooth dough that just comes together
4. knead it into a nice ball, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate.
5.   Preheat the oven, and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
6. Meanwhile, make the caramel :
7. Heat the butter and sugar together until it's all melted. Add the condensed milk. Mix until it lightens and is well combined, but doesn't boil. Done. (You can pour it into a bowl at this point for storage).**
8. Roll out the pasty on a floured surface until it's slightly thinner than your little finger. It cracks quite easily at the edges but also patches up well. Stamp out 24 rounds with a crinkled edged round cutter, about 2.5 inches across.
9. Space them out well over the two sheets (they spread a bit) and bake in two batches. Turn them round at 6 minutes.
10. Take them out when still pale but firm underneath. Leave to cool slightly (they're pretty crumbly when hot) and then remove to a baking sheet to cool completely
11. When cold, use a teaspoon to spread a blob of caramel over the underside of one biscuit, and press another one against it to make a cookie sandwich. Repeat 12 times
12. Enjoy! Make again 10 more times to use up your caramel...

* You can use 1 tbsp Pisco or Brandy instead of lemon juice as the liquid
** I see quite a few people online sharing their caramel-making tips: all seem to involve boiling sugar for several hours on a low heat. Every time I make my caramel I get lazier; it took me about 10 minutes. Still came out fine.