{Alfajores}

I made some "Alfajores" today. Next time I will make the cookie part a bit thinner. Either way they turned out great! Below is the recipe I found on the "Made" blog. Mind you 1/2 the batch of cookies only made a dozen cookies but then again because I made them a bit too thick and my smallest circle cutter was a biscuit size so this recipe made 12-18 finished cookies for me. I am sure if I made them a bit thinner and got a smaller cookie cutter it would be more cookies.

The Dulce de Leche sauce was nice and easy to make and I know they will make a nice gift for dipping fruit into...

This is a picture of how mine turned out...so easy to make!

Alfajores

Makes about 2 1/2-3 dozen

For the Dulce de Leche:

- (2) 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)

- pinch of coarse salt

Directions:

1. Pour condensed milk into a pie plate or shallow baking dish

2. Mix in salt

3. Place baking dish into a larger pan. Pour water into the larger pan until it reaches half way up the sides of the baking dish.

4. Cover the dish tightly with foil.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 1-2 hours. Checking now and again to stir the milk and making sure there is always water in the larger pan.

6. It will be a beautiful brown and carmelly color when it's done. There may be lumps, but you can whisk it a bit (or not). When it cool it should be the consistency of creamy peanut butter.

Dulce de leche makes a fine Christmas gift on its own. When it's hot out of the oven pour into small jars. It keeps for about a month in the fridge.

For the Cookies:

- 4 cups all-purpose flour

- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

- 1/2 cup water

- Sanding sugar or powdered sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (once your ready to bake cookies)

2. In a food processor, pulse together flour, sugar briefly. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

3. With machine running, pour in the water in a slow stream, and process 20 seconds. The dough will probably not come together, but that's okay. Roll out a length of plastic wrap and put half of the crumbly dough onto it. Wrap it up tightly in the plastic wrap, then with the heel of your hand press the dough 5-10 times until it comes together. Repeat with the other half of cookie dough. Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.

4. Flour your surface and roll out one disk of dough to between 1/4 in and 1/ in thick. The cookies should be thick, but too thick and you won't be able to fit the finished cookie in your mouth!

5. Cut out rounds (roundish cutters are best, those stars up there? they fell apart right away) from the dough and transfer to a parchment lined cookie sheet. Continue with the rest of the dough. Gather up your scraps and re-roll, but only re-roll once (they will be tough otherwise).

6. Sprinkle half the rounds with sanding sugar or if you don't have sanding sugar, sift powdered sugar on half the baked cookies (when cool).

7.Bake until golden brown and a little puffed up, about 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

8. Spread a heaping teaspoon of dulce de leche on half the cookies. Top with the sugar coated cookie and serve. These cookies are lovely right away, but I like them best the next day when their flavors have melded a bit.