Alfajor

An alfajor is a traditional cookie in some countries of the Americas , most notably in Argentina and Uruguay. However, now it can be found in Peru, Paraguay, and Chile. Its most basic form consists of two round sweet biscuits generally joined together with dulce de leche and/or jam and covered with powder sugar. In most alfajors there are layers like cake, and the dulce de leche fills in between.

Another popular feature of the alfajor, although not always present, is a coating of black or white chocolate (many alfajores are sold in "black" and "white" flavours). There's also one variation, called "Alfajor de nieve", that instead of having a white or black chocolate coating, it has a "snow" coating. The "snow coating" consists mostly of a mixture of egg whites and sugar. Peruvian alfajores are usually coated in powdered sugar, as seen in the picture, and are filled with manjar blanco. Most alfajores come packaged in aluminium foil, similarly to most chocolate bars, though hand-made are just as accessible and generally packaged in plastic wrap or wax paper.

Other varieties of alfajor include different elements in the preparation of the biscuits, such as peanuts; they also vary the filling and coating and even add a third biscuit (alfajor triple).

The word has Arabic origins with the meaning "stuffed" or "filled".

The best ones i've had are from the Havanna stores.