Alfajores de Maicena (Argentine Dulce de Leche Cornstarch Sandwich Cookies)

Alfajores de maicena are the cookie you find at every Buenos Aires kiosk, bakery counter and grandmother’s tin: two pale, crumbly rounds of cornstarch shortbread held together by a thick layer of dulce de leche, the edge rolled in coconut. They belong to the whole Río de la Plata — Argentina and Uruguay above all — and are part of a broader Latin American family of filled sweets that share a name and a history reaching back to medieval Spain.

A word with Arabic roots

The name alfajor comes from Arabic, and the sweet originally meant something very different: a dense honey-and-almond confection of Moorish Spain that is still made around Medina-Sidonia. Spanish colonists carried the idea to the Americas, where it split into local versions. Peru fills its alfajores with manjar blanco; Chile has its own; Argentina’s most famous versions are the chocolate-coated commercial alfajor and this one, the alfajor de maicena. It is worth saying plainly that no single country invented the alfajor — the version here is simply the one the Río de la Plata perfected.

The cornstarch is the whole point

Most cookies are built on wheat flour, which forms gluten and gives chew. These are built on cornstarch, which has none. Replace most of the flour with it and the dough becomes short and sandy: the cookie doesn’t so much crunch as dissolve. A little plain flour stays in the mix purely so you can roll and cut the dough without it breaking apart.

Powdered sugar, egg yolks and butter

Three small decisions do the rest. Powdered sugar dissolves completely, keeping the crumb fine where granulated leaves a slight grain. Egg yolks add richness and a pale golden colour without the toughening whites. And cool, creamed butter provides the fat that coats the starch and makes the dough short. A dash of lemon zest and a splash of brandy or pisco — common in home recipes — brighten the flavour.

Bake them pale

The biggest mistake with alfajores de maicena is baking them until they colour. They should stay blond, with only a faint golden edge underneath. Because the crumb sets with so little browning, a few extra minutes turns a melting cookie into a dry biscuit. Pull them out early and let residual heat finish the job as they cool.

Filling: thick dulce de leche, cooled cookies

Dulce de leche is slow-cooked sweet milk, caramelised to a deep golden brown. For alfajores, use the thick pastry style, sold as repostero, so it holds its shape and does not squeeze out. Always fill completely cooled cookies — a warm disc will melt the filling and slide apart. Press the top cookie down only until the dulce reaches the rim, then roll the edge in desiccated coconut, which seals the sticky band and adds a dry, faintly sweet chew.

Give them a night

Freshly filled alfajores are pleasant; overnight ones are the real thing. Moisture from the dulce de leche slowly softens the cookie, shifting it from crisp-short to a texture that melts on the tongue. Keep them in a sealed tin and serve them the way Argentines do at merienda, the late-afternoon break, with a strong coffee or a gourd of yerba mate.

For more Latin American sweets, try the milk-soaked tres leches cake, or build a fuller Río de la Plata table with chimichurri and empanadas salteñas. There is more on the dishes worth crossing a border for in the world classics guide.