Have you eaten alfajores de maizena in Argentina? They're delicious cornflour shortbread cookies, filled (in some cases, sky high) with dulce de leche and rolled in toasted coconut flakes. Until I had encountered the pastelerias in Buenos Aires, I thought I had already sampled the best sweets the world had to offer (baklava in Istanbul, of course). And just when I thought Argentinian sweets couldn't get any better, I tried the most amazingly delightful alfajores de maizena at the Mataderos Sunday market. Crumbly, melt-in-your mouth, dulce de leche delights.
These cookies are a labor of love: first you have to make the shortbread cookies, then you'll have to fill them with dulce de leche before rolling them in coconut. But it's worth every extra minute. They're not easy to come by in the U.S., and they're really good. We brought some delicious and fresh dulce de leche home from Green Eat on Buenos Aires' Reconquista for some authentic alfajores at home in Virginia. But don't worry: you can buy dulce de leche at almost any specialty foods store.
When I think of "paradise," I rarely see beaches or impossibly sunny days. Instead, with more than one hundred used bookstores (I visited fifty-eight of them!) and dulce de leche-infused sweets on every corner, Buenos Aires was for me, in many ways, a paradise. Here's the Atlantics' "Adventures in Paradise" from this Australian band's 1963 album, Bombora.
Ingredients:
--1/2 c. corn flour (no, not cornstarch--this is a specialty corn flour I bought at Whole Foods)
--1/2 c. all-purpose flour, + extra for rolling
--3 1/3 c. cornstarch
--1/2 tsp. baking powder
--3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
--1 1/3 c. granulated sugar
--3 egg yolks
--1 tsp. vanilla
--2 tsp. dark rum
--16 oz. dulce de leche
--1 c. very finely shredded toasted coconut (you can grind already shredded coconut even further in a food processor)
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients. Mix until fully combined and a fluffy light yellow color. In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients. Slowly add them to the wet ingredients, about 1/4 of the dry mixture at a time. Don't overmix! Once the dry mixture is incorporated (and it should be very dry and crumbly at this point), separate the dough into quarters.
On a floured surface, roll one of the dough quarters until it's about 1/2" thick. Using a 3" biscuit cutter, cut dough circles. Place about 1/2" apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Do not let these cookies turn golden-colored on top--if they have any golden tone, they're overcooked. Allow the cookies to cool on a cooling rack and repeat instructions until you have about 75 shortbread cookies.
Once the cookies have all cooled, liberally apply dulce de leche to the flat side (bottom side) of one of the cookies. Be very careful--the cookies are very fragile and will crumble easily with too much pressure. Once you've smothered the bottom of the cookie in what most Argentinian menus translate as "milk caramel," add another cookie on top, flat side down (bottom side), making a cookie sandwich. Repeat until all cookies have become cookie sandwiches. Each sandwich should have about 1/4" of dulce de leche in the middle (of course, if you like a lot of dulce de leche, add more).
Place your shredded coconut in a shallow bowl. Roll each cookie like a wheel until the exposed dulce de leche has been coated with coconut. Repeat until you've finished all cookies. Makes about 3 dozen alfajores de maizena. You won't regret it.
I have been horribly neglectful of my blog over the last month or so, which, in my mind, is a particularly heinous crime given the salient spices and aromas of the holiday season. As it turns out, applying for academic jobs and postdocs takes more time than I initially anticipated. (I haven't stopped baking, though, I promise!) What better way to counter the anxieties of assistant professorship applications than a pan of hot pumpkin pecan cinnamon rolls? It's nearly the end of November, and it's a perfect time for sweet pumpkin spice.
These pumpkin pecan cinnamon rolls are just the right amount of everything: they're not super sweet on their own (if that's what you like), but if you want something sweeter, that's where the delicious vanilla-rum cream cheese icing comes in. Drizzle as much or as little as you'd like for a warm breakfast or an after-dinner treat.
We've been listening to a lot of Neil Young as the leaves have been falling, and our recent vinyl acquisition of Rust Never Sleeps has left our autumn kitchen with the sounds of "Thrasher."
Ingredients:
*Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen's pumpkin cinnamon rolls
*Note also: you'll need a dough hook for your mixer to complete this recipe!
The Dough:
--8 tbsp. unsalted butter, + extra for buttering your pans
--1/2 c. water, warmed (but not boiling)
--1 package of active dry yeast
--3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, + additional for rolling and buttering your pans
--1/3 c. dark brown sugar
--1/3 c. turbinado sugar
--2 tsp. ground cinnamon
--1/2 tsp. ground cloves
--1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
--1/2 tsp. ground allspice
--1/2 tsp. ground ginger
--1/2 tsp. salt
--3/4 c. pumpkin puree
--1 tbsp. canola oil (for coating your bowl)
--2 eggs
The Filling:
--3/4 c. dark brown sugar
--1/2 c. turbinado sugar
--pinch of salt
--1 tsp. cinnamon
--1 c. chopped pecans (you can make these without nuts, too)
The Icing:
--4 oz. cream cheese (or neufchatel)
--2 tbsp. half and half
--2 tsp. vanilla extract
--1 tbsp. dark rum (obviously, leave this out if you're making these for kids)
--1 1/2 to 2 c. confectioner's sugar (depending on whether you want your icing thin like a glaze or thick like an icing)
First thing, heat your water and dissolve your yeast. Keep in mind that your water cannot be boiling or near it--just warm enough to dissolve the yeast. If the mixture doesn't begin to froth in 5-7 minutes, the yeast is bad and you'll need to start anew (it's always good to check this first).
Next, melt your butter and set aside. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients--flour, sugars, spices and salt. Beat on low speed, and slowly add about half the melted butter to your mixture. Continue to beat on low to combine. Now, add the yeast mixture, pumpkin puree, and the eggs. Using a dough hook on your mixer, combine the ingredients on low for 5-7 minutes until you have a combined dough.
In a separate large bowl oiled with canola oil, transfer your ball of dough. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for about in hour in a warm place. While you're waiting, butter and flour two 9" springform pans (or whatever cake pan you're using).
You can also use this time to make your filling and your icing. These are both pretty straightforward. For the filling, just use a fork to gently combine all ingredients. Set aside. Now, for the icing: in a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, half and half, vanilla, rum, and confectioner's sugar. Beat on medium speed until it's silky and smooth.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Now to complete your cinnamon rolls! After an hour or so (the dough should have just about doubled in size). On a heavily floured surface, roll the dough into a rough rectangular shape that's about 1/4" thick. With a pastry brush, gently brush the surface with the remaining melted butter (you should have about half of the melted butter left). Drench that dough! Then sprinkle the filling evenly across it. Now, you're going to roll this piece of dough length-wise (or the long way). Try to keep it as tight as possible until you've got a pumpkin dough log on your hands. Using a serrated-edge knife, very (very!) gently slice the log into 1/2" discs. When you're finished, you should have enough to fill your two cake dishes.
Place the cinnamon rolls so that they're touching one another in a circular pattern in each of the cake dishes and bake, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes, or until the rolls have puffed up and are ever-so-slightly a golden color. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, and drizzle (or coat heavily) with your vanilla-rum cream cheese icing. Enjoy!
