Alfajores de Maicena

Method

1. Beat the soft butter and icing sugar in a bowl with a whisk or electric mixer for 2 min, until pale and creamy. Add the yolk, vanilla and lemon zest and mix until smooth. When half a yolk is needed, beat one yolk and use half of it (about 1 tablespoon).

   Add in this stepUnsalted butter, softened 35 gIcing (powdered) sugar 25 gEgg yolks 1Vanilla extract ½ tspLemon (finely grated zest only) ¼

2. Sift in the cornstarch, flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Cut it in with a spatula, then gently bring it together with your hands into a smooth dough. Stop as soon as it holds; kneading makes the cookies hard. If it is crumbly, press it together, as the warmth of your hands helps. Flatten into a disc, wrap and chill for 30 min.

   Add in this stepCornstarch (cornflour) 60 gPlain flour 30 gBaking powder ½ tspBicarbonate of soda (baking soda) 1 pinch

3. Preheat the oven to 170°C for 10 min and line a baking tray with baking paper. Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper to 5 mm thick, cut 4.5 cm rounds and set them 2 cm apart on the tray. Re-roll the scraps. You need an even number of cookies.

   oven

4. Bake in the oven for 9 min, baking 1 tray(s) one after another. They are done when the tops are still white and only the bottoms are barely cream-coloured; any browning means overbaked. Fresh from the oven they break easily, so leave them on the tray for 5 minutes, then move to a rack to cool completely.

   oven

5. Turn half the cookies flat side up and pile on the dulce de leche, spreading it to 5 mm from the edge. Top with another cookie and press gently with a little twist so the filling reaches the edges.

   Add in this stepDulce de leche, thick baking type 150 g

6. Spread the coconut on a plate and roll each alfajor on its side like a wheel so the coconut sticks to the dulce de leche. They are lovely straight away, but a day in an airtight tin makes the cookies softer and even better.

   Add in this stepDesiccated coconut, fine 20 g