A beloved classic of Peruvian afternoons. Two pale, delicate cornstarch cookies melt around a generous center of manjar blanco, finished with powdered sugar. Tender, fragile, and deeply familiar: the kind of sweet that disappears before the coffee has time to cool.
Turn what you find into an experience you can actually bring to your kitchen.
Sift the cornstarch, all-purpose flour, and salt together into a bowl. Mix for just a few seconds to distribute them evenly; this fine base helps the cookies bake evenly without dry little lumps.
Beat the unsalted butter with most of the powdered sugar for 2 minutes, until creamy, smooth, and slightly paler. Add the egg yolks and mix only until incorporated; there is no need to whip in a lot of air.
Add the dry mixture in 2 batches and bring the dough together with your hands, pressing gently until no loose patches remain. Do not knead: as soon as the dough holds together, shape it into a disc, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 15 minutes, until firm but still flexible enough to bend without cracking. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160°C.
Roll the dough to about 5 mm thick and cut 32 even cookies. Arrange them on a parchment-lined baking tray and bake at 160°C for 12 to 14 minutes, until the tops are dry and pale and only the bottoms are beginning to pick up the faintest color. Remove them before they brown; overbaking takes away their meltaway texture.
Carefully transfer the cookies to a rack and let them cool for 10 to 15 minutes, until completely firm and at room temperature. Fill half with manjar blanco, top with the remaining cookies without pressing hard, and dust with the rest of the powdered sugar. And that's it! If the cookie breaks delicately and then melts away with the manjar, that is exactly the alfajor we were after. 😌
