Vegan Alfajores (Argentinian Dulce de Leche Sandwich Biscuits)

Have you been enjoying all the dulce de leche-y goodness? Guess that is a silly question. Who wouldn't love treats laced with rich creamy vegan home made dulce de leche? You don't have to answer that.

So - earlier this month I made some vegan dulce de leche and then used it in a Argentinian dulce de leche tiramisu (yum!! you should check that out). But that isn't it for the dulce de leche this month. Now, feast your eyes on these! Or, better still - make them and then feast your mouth on them too. They're light crumbly vegan shortbread sandwich biscuits filled with decadent dulce de leche. Need I say anymore? I hope you said "no" because I wasn't planning on writing any more on this post - just enjoy the recipe!

Vegan Argentinian Alfajores

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour (I like to use 1/2 wholemeal and 1/2 white, but you can use all white if you prefer)

1 1/2 cups cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup soft icing mixture (confectioners sugar)

1 cup dairy free margarine (such as Nuttelex)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp rum or Pisco (or to make a dairy free version, substitute cold black tea)

Vegan dulce de leche (home made or use store bought if you can find a vegan one)

To Make
1. If you haven't already, jump over to this recipe and make the dulce de leche so that it has time to cool while you make the biscuits.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
3. Combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and icing mixture in a bowl and mix well.
4. Cut the margarine into the mix and rub with your fingers until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs and there are no big lumps left.
5. Add the vanilla extract and rum and mix with your hands until it forms a smooth dough. If it's a little dry you can add a bit more rum, if it's too sticky add a little more flour. It should be wet enough to hold together in a ball, but not so wet enough that it sticks to your fingers as you form it. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 40 minutes.
6. Generously flour a bench space and your rolling pin. Cut your dough in half and roll out half to a bit more than 1/2 cm thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out your biscuits in whatever shape you'd like (I used heart shapes and lip shapes). Transfer them to a tray lined with baking paper.
7. Bake the biscuits for 12 minutes, rotating the tray half way through to ensure even cooking. This may vary depending on how hot your oven really is - so keep a close eye on them. They shouldn't be browned on top, they should stay nice and white - not in a racist way of course... :)
8. Transfer to a cooling rack carefully until completely cold. Then spread the wrong side of the biscuit with a liberal amount of dulce de leche and gently place another biscuit on top. Continue until you use up all the biscuits.

Makes about 20 sandwich biscuits (this will vary depending on the size of your cutter).