20 Jun Peruvian Alfajores de miel – Honey Alfajores recipe
This Honey Alfajores recipe is a Peruvian popular sweet treat. Instead of the classic Alfajores filled with Manjar Blanco or dulce de leche, these are filled with Chancaca. Chancaca is a natural sweetener made from sugar cane juice; in some other Latin American countries is called panela. The Alfajores de Miel is a dessert for that sweet tooth out there.
You will find this dessert in street carts and the fanciest restaurants. Some people will know them as the mini version or mouth cookie from the “turrón de doña Pepa”, because it has this unique flavour of the Chancaca. But one of the critical things is that the Alfajores you will find them all year long, but turron de dona pepa is more like a seasonal dessert (October).
The Alfajores de Miel are among other popular Peruvian desserts like suspiro de limeña, arroz zambito, turron de doña pepa, frejol colado, mazamorra de cochino, mazamorra morada, arroz con leche, king kong, etc. All of them were created back in the Hispanic times when cultural fusion produced so many great dishes and desserts for the Peruvian cuisine.
You will need very few ingredients to achieve this delicious cookie.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
- anise seeds
- sugar
- flour
- lard (cut into pieces)
- salt
For the honey
- Chancaca or panela
- cinnamon stick
- cloves
- water
- white vinegar
It is an easy recipe that you can speed the process in a food processor, or you can do the dough by hand. (so keep out your electric mixers ?) You will put all the dough ingredients into the food processor and pulse until it becomes a ball. You will need to refrigerate your dough for at least two hours with a plastic wrap.
In the meantime, we prepare the honey. If it is your first time cooking with Chancaca, I let you know that it is hard to cut, but you need to cut them a little to help with the cooking. So cut the Chancaca into chunks and put them in a pot with cinnamon, cloves and water. Let it simmer in low heat until it gets thicker than a caramel sauce or reaches the soft ball temperature. Turn off the heat and discard the cloves and cinnamon. Finally, add the vinegar and let it cool to room temperature before using it.
We need to assemble these sweet snacks but stacking dough and honey to make a three-layer Alfajor.
Frequently Asked Questions about Alfajores de Miel:
It is a democratic dessert because you will find them from street vendors to the fanciest bakery in town.
You will find it in any Latin market because it is a way of sweetened desserts in many South American countries. In some countries, you will discover Chancaca also in whole foods markets because it is a natural sweetener with no additives. Sometimes it will be called panela.
I don’t recommend replacing it because it will change the texture, but something similar will be vegetable shortening.
Hi! I’m Valeria (aka Val) the photographer and recipe developer behind Canguro Criollo. My passion for food began when I was little at my home when everything will revolve around food and now I discover this new creative outlet of food photography. I wish you can follow my journey discovering unique ways of preparing Peruvian food abroad and some other family-friendly foods.
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