Melt-in-the-mouth butter biscuits filled with gooey caramel or juicy guava… what’s not to love about Alfajores? These addictive treats are one of Colombia’s most popular exports (think an exotic South American answer to macarons) and once we tried them, we were hooked.
To celebrate the launch of Nespresso ‘s two new ‘Colombian Terroirs’ coffees, acclaimed chefs Ben Milgate and Elvis Ebrahanowicz of Sydney’s Bodega and Porteno have created two bespoke alfajore recipes that are as simple as they are sinful.
Alfajores Recipe
(makes 24)
Ingredients
220g butter
150g icing sugar
3 egg yolks
2 vanilla beans (inside)
200g plain flour
300g corn flour
2 capsules of Santander (2x40ml espresso shots from Nespresso machine). Pre-extracted and cooled the day of creating.
2 teaspoons bi-carb soda
Zest of 1 lemon
Method
1. Pre-extract the Nespresso Santander Grand Cru from the Nespresso machine using the espresso button. One shot per capsule. Leave coffee to cool before adding to recipe.
2. Beat butter, icing sugar, yolks, espresso, lemon zest and vanilla until combined and lightly creamy.
3. Mix plain flour, corn flour and bi-carb soda together in a separate bowl.
4. Add the flour to the wet mix slowly, until well combined and smooth.
5. Wrap in plastic and allow to rest for an hour in the fridge.
6. Roll out to a 4mm thickness.
7. Stamp out biscuits with a 50mm round cutter.
8. Place on a baking paper lined tray and allow to rest for a further 15 minutes.
9. Bake at 180c for 10mins. When they’re ready, biscuits should be a light colour, not golden and burnt.
Compiling the Alfajores
Ingredients
Guava Jam
Dulce De Leche
Valrohna Chocolate
Desiccated Coconut
Method
The flat side of the biscuit should be on the top and the bottom of the biscuit to give a flat/flush finish.
Filling One
Fill biscuit with about 5mm worth of Guava Jam. Roll desiccated coconut around the circumference of the biscuit. Then sprinkle the top of the biscuit with coffee from the Cauca Grand Cru capsule.
Filling Two
Fill biscuit with about 5mm of Dulce De Leche. Then drizzle top with Valrohna milk chocolate.
