You may never have heard of them, but this biscuit is one of the most popular baked goods in the world. It's estimated 6 million alfajores are sold each day in Argentina alone. The country even has an annual three-day festival celebrating them. A much-loved sweet staple in Peru, Chile and Uruguay, too, they are sold in supermarkets, streetside "kioscos" and elegant "confiterias".
Two small round shortbread-type biscuits sandwiched together with a milk-based caramel, dulce de leche, the original sweet was introduced by the Moors when they occupied southern Spain around the eighth century. When the Spanish colonised South America in the 1500s, they imported many of their culinary traditions, including alfajores. Originally made with honey and nuts, alfajores rapidly developed their own identity in South America based on ingredients popular in the region.
In Peru and Chile, the filling is known as "manjar", sometimes flavoured with a pinch of cinnamon. Alfajores may come coated in chocolate or powdered sugar, while modern iterations may include triple biscuit layers, white chocolate or jam fillings.
Read more on Explore:
In Montevideo, Uruguay, at a tiny espresso bar by Plaza Independencia, I have my first of what will turn out to be many.
Analia Barrios, owner of Cafe Social Club in Montevideo, makes them herself. Her biscuits are just slightly soft and on the right side of crumbly, not overly sweet with sticky sides rolled in coconut. The secret, she says is cornflour for the light texture and the superior Uruguayan milk in the dulce de leche. She tells me the most common time to eat one is in the late afternoon, usually with a cup of maté (South American tea), but it's utterly perfect with my breakfast coffee and I return the next morning for another.
Almost three weeks later, in an airline lounge in Santiago, an alfajor is the last thing I eat on South American soil, but it doesn't come close to the first.
