Alfajores - Cajeta Shortbread Cookies

May I present you with the most irresistible crumbly buttery cookie filled with gooey cajeta (dulce de leche).  Pair with a cup of coffee for a mid-afternoon snack.  Ahh, perfection!

Ingredients:

• 3 sticks (1.5 cups) unsalted good-quality butter, softened (since I am very impatient, I placed my cold butter in a mixing bowl, cut it up in small chunks, and placed it in the oven at 180 degrees for about 5 minutes.  Just don’t let it melt– you want it soft.)
• 3.5 cups flour
• 1 tbsp real vanilla extract
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Cajeta or dulce de leche

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix butter and sugar until creamy with a whisk. Add vanilla.
3. In second bowl, mix flour and salt.
4. Add butter mixture to flour.  Mix together with your hand (or with a fancy mixture if you have one)
5. Roll into a log and cover with plastic wrap/parchment paper. Place in freezer for 30 mins.
6. Cut log in thin circles. Place in cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. Bake for 11-15 minutes, depending on thickness.  Cookies should barely be brown on the outside, white in the middle.
8. Let cookies cook completely.  Place a teaspoon of cajeta in middle and top with another cookie.  Dust with powdered sugar.
9. Try not to drool during the process.
10. Enjoy!

About these ads