Monday, February 1, 2010

Culinary tour 2010 - Argentina: Alfajores de Maicena de Ilda


This week I will finally join Joan's new Culinary Tour Around the World in Argentina.
The recipe I chose is the recipe I received from an expert pastry maker from Paraguay, she lives in Sant'Ignatio a town in the Misiones region which now is divided between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. This region's history is both complicated and sad (some of you may remember the film 'Mission').
The sweet called Alfajor has arab origins in Spain between 711 and 1492. It was then exported to South America were now it is considered traditional.



The Alfajores I made are thinner than usual and with less filling but I think the most important thing is the cookie recipe and then each of us can play with it (I'm planning of filling some with lemon curd !).

RECIPE
Combine :
500 gr of flour
500 gr Maizena
350 gr Sugar
2 tsp baking powder
Lemon zest
Vanilla
Add :
4 Eggs room temp
250 gr Butter room temp

And you will see how wonderful this dough is ! No need of refrigerate it it won't shrink or spread just roll it at your desired thickness and bake in a 350°F oven until pinkish then fill with Dulce de leche and roll them in shredded coconut.
Ilda recomends eating them after a couple of days (they are different : taste some right away and compare !)

GRAZIE ILDA !

7 comments:

Dewi said...

What an interesting recipe using maizena in one of the ingredients. Looks delicious Natalia.

Dajana said...

Che ricetta interessante, ho giusto un po' di Dulce nel frigo, potrei usarlo in questo modo, invece di mangiarlo con il cucchiaio :)))))

Federica Simoni said...

uhhh ma sono mega deliziosi!!!!

FOODalogue said...

I'm happy to have you join in the tour. A lot of countries take credit for alfajores but I've always believed they came from Argentina. I'm sure readers will enjoy your post. Thanks.

Jennifer said...

YUM! These look so good!!!!

Cindystar said...

I tuoi mi sembrano molto più regolari dei miei, e sì che sono stata ben attenta col tagliapasta!
La ricetta non mi sembra sia poi tanto diversa, devono essere un incanto col lemon curd, ottima scelta!
W gli alfajores!!!
P:s.: Ho visto anche io il film "Mission", e mi è piaciuto molto.

Marthe said...

Now, that a good idea for using up the dulce de leche that I've got leftover from making the Dulce de Leche Duos for TWD!!