![\"Alfajores](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/3f9204d570b1388db531c76ae18dc0a893fc72b8c39181a614d523780b21de05.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
<\/p>\nAlfajor (plural: alfajores) refers in southern Spain to a confection of honey and nuts kneaded together and shaped into a bar, and in South America to a confection in which a sweet filling is sandwiched between pieces of baked dough. Even under the same name, the ingredients and shape vary greatly from region to region.<\/p>\n
In Medina Sidonia in southern Spain, honey and nuts are kneaded together and formed into bars. Heated honey is combined with roasted and crushed almonds, hazelnuts, breadcrumbs, wheat flour and spices, and the mixture is shaped and finished with syrup and sugar. These ingredients and steps are also set out in the rules for the protected geographical indication published in 2005.<\/p>\n
Also in Spain, in Murcia, a paste of honey, almonds, hazelnuts, breadcrumbs, citrus peel, spices and other ingredients is sandwiched between two thin, wafer-like obleas. It is a confection eaten at Christmas, and there is also a tradition of depicting the Cross of Caravaca on the obleas. The sandwich form is therefore not unique to South America. Murcia uses thin obleas and a honey-and-nut paste, whereas in South America thicker biscuits are sandwiched with sweet fillings such as one made by cooking down milk.<\/p>\n
In South America, the practice of layering two or more pieces of baked dough developed. Argentina\u2019s 2001 food regulation defines the alfajor as pieces of baked dough joined with sweet fillings such as jam or milk-based fillings, with the outside either coated or uncoated. Whereas Spanish usage includes the bar form, Argentina defines the alfajor by its structure: \u201ca sweet filling sandwiched between pieces of baked dough.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alfajores displayed at a confectionery shop in Rosario, Argentina. Items with different coatings are lined up. Photo: ElGuruCesar, 2020-12-26, Rosario, Argentina. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version from the hosting source; no additional processing.<\/p>\n There are also several theories about the origin of the word alfajor. The one popularized through sources such as the Argentine government\u2019s introduction is the theory that it comes from an Arabic-derived word, al-has\u00fa<\/em>, meaning \u201cfilling,\u201d by way of Andalusia. The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, on the other hand, traces it back to Hispano-Arabic fa\u0161\u00far<\/em> and further to Persian af\u0161or<\/em>, meaning \u201cjuice.\u201d<\/p>\n The linguist Federico Corriente argues that a form close to the Andalusi Arabic word for \u201cfilling\u201d survives more faithfully in alaj\u00fa<\/em>, and that it was confused with the Persian-derived fa\u0161\u00far<\/em>. Although the theories share an Arabic-derived origin, neither the meaning nor the route of transmission has been settled.<\/p>\n In Francisco Delicado\u2019s tale La Lozana andaluza (1528), \u201crosquillas de alfaxor<\/em>\u201d appears in a scene in which the protagonist lists the dishes she learned from her grandmother. It is an old form of the word that referred to ring-shaped confections. Since before today\u2019s two-layer sandwich became established, the name has referred to various confections, including ring-shaped ones.<\/p>\n In South America, because the soft filling is sandwiched between pieces of baked dough, alfajores can be held in the hand to eat and carried around. In addition to doughs based mainly on wheat flour, some doughs use cornstarch, called maicena. An alfajor of maicena dough sandwiched with dulce de leche and with coconut rolled onto the seam differs from one entirely coated in chocolate, starting with the first layer the teeth meet.<\/p>\n Dulce de leche is a food made by heating and concentrating milk and sugar, and it is not the same as caramel, which is made by browning sugar alone. The combination of flours changes how the dough crumbles, and a filling of cooked-down fruit changes both the character of the sweetness and the moisture. There are also various finishes, such as glazing with icing, dusting with powdered sugar or coating in chocolate, so even alfajores of a similar round shape vary in flavor and texture.<\/p>\n In Argentina, local products widen these differences further.<\/p>\n Regional ingredients are used not only in the fillings but also in the dough.<\/p>\n What is called alfajor in northwestern Costa Rica includes a confection of roasted corn flour bound with syrup. In this way, the same name is also used for a confection that does not sandwich a filling in dough. In the method recorded in a regional study by the University of Costa Rica, roasted corn flour, cinnamon and cloves are combined with a syrup made from tapa dulce, a non-centrifugal sugar. The aroma of the roasted grain flour and the sweetness of the syrup are mixed throughout the dough, and the way the ingredients are combined differs from that of confections that sandwich a sweet milk-based filling.<\/p>\n For Cartago in eastern Costa Rica, there is a literary work that depicts alfajores made with fruit. In his tale Tradiciones costarricenses (Costa Rican Traditions), written in a later period, Gonzalo Chac\u00f3n depicted a scene in which pineapple and ginger alfajores were served at a wedding in Cartago in 1838. In this story, they are portrayed as a confection that combines the tartness of fruit with spice. They differ in both ingredients and flavor from the northwestern confection of roasted flour kneaded with syrup and from confections that sandwich a filling of cooked-down milk between pieces of baked dough.<\/p>\n In Paraguay, too, there are modern innovations in the flours used for the outer layers. One example from Madelina in Asunci\u00f3n combines corn starch, mandioca starch and rice flour with eggs, fat, molasses and sugar to make the dough. Fillings include dulce de leche and guava-based fillings. Mandioca is another name for cassava. In this example, the dough is made not by simply replacing wheat flour with mandioca starch but by combining several flours.<\/p>\n King Kong<\/a>, from Peru\u2019s northern coast, belongs to a lineage of large alfajores that layer a sweet made by cooking down milk, called manjar blanco, with a pineapple preserve. Unlike small individually wrapped products, this confection, with its stacked layers of milk sweet and fruit, is cut into pieces to eat.<\/p>\n Penco, from Moquegua in the south, is characterized by a dough made with egg yolks and a cracked surface. According to the records of researcher Rosario Olivas Weston, who collected family recipes (ingredient proportions and methods), the egg whites and egg yolks are each whipped thoroughly and combined with pisco, a small amount of flour, a leavening agent and fat. Because the surface is dried after shaping and before baking, cracks open as the inside rises. Alongside a filling of sugarcane syrup mixed with walnuts, peanuts, bread or pastry crumbs and coconut, manjar blanco made by cooking down milk and fillings combining syrup and milk also spread in the mid-20th century. This celebratory confection has also changed to suit the tastes of migrants.<\/p>\n The late-19th-century recipe from Trujillo on the northern coast collected by Olivas involved baking thin layers of flour, salt water, eggs and lard and sandwiching syrup, pineapple, quince, milk sweets and the like between them. In Moquegua, the surface of a whipped dough is dried, while on the northern coast thin dough is baked. Even under the same name, the methods differ by region.<\/p>\n Chile\u2019s hojarasca is a thin baked dough used to sandwich fillings. Besides manjar, the fillings include an older type called \u201cconserva de alfajor,\u201d made with honey or chancaca. It is made by cooking down honey mixed with crumbs of the baked layers and flavoring it with toasted orange peel, and in rural areas methods using chancaca or roasted flour have also been handed down.<\/p>\n For what is called tablilla or guallaca in the O\u2019Higgins Region of central Chile, the filling is made by adding chancaca, sugar and flour to a liquid in which orange peel and cinnamon have been simmered, and working the mixture into a paste. Thin layers of wheat flour, water and fat are baked and cooled, the filling is sandwiched between them, and they are coated with an egg icing. It is a confection carried on by local makers and is also served at festivals and village events.<\/p>\n In Santa Fe, Argentina, thin, salty layers are stacked with dulce de leche and covered with white meringue. There are also two-layer versions, and the saltiness of the layers is enjoyed together with the sweetness of the filling. In the city, Hermenegildo Zuvir\u00eda, known as \u201cMerengo,\u201d is said to have opened a shop in 1851 and made biscuits and milk-based confections. This shop is linked to the history of the Santa Fe alfajor, which stacks thin, salty layers with a filling of cooked-down milk. The Santa Fe City Council recounts the memory that participants in the 1853 constitutional convention ate this confection when the convention was held. The shop history of the maker Merengo also cites a work by a local author that depicts people who came to the town for the convention staying on the shop\u2019s upper floor and taking the confections back to their hometowns. The memory of the people who gathered in the town and of the confection has been passed down together with the drafting of the constitution. In 2024, the city council approved an ordinance declaring this confection intangible cultural heritage.<\/p>\n In Uruguay, too, there are versions that stack soft dough with dulce de leche and are coated in chocolate or in a white icing called \u201cnieve.\u201d Whether the dough is in two or three layers, and what it is coated with, change the balance of quantity with the filling as well as the texture.<\/p>\n As mass tourism expanded in the 20th century, this confection also became popular as a souvenir. On Argentina\u2019s Atlantic coast, including Mar del Plata, alfajores sandwiched with dulce de leche and coated in chocolate became associated with seaside trips. This style had already been seen earlier in confectionery shops in Buenos Aires, and it spread as a souvenir at seaside resorts.<\/p>\n A souvenir that a traveler bought in Peru contained the baked dough, the filling and the powdered sugar packed separately. It is a product that the buyer finishes before eating by sandwiching the filling and dusting it with sugar. Compared with finished, individually wrapped products, it also offers a different way of enjoying the confection after taking it home.<\/p>\n Boxes decorated with designs inspired by landscapes and regions also became souvenir packaging that reminds people of their travels. As distribution expanded, factory-made individually wrapped products found their way into kiosks and supermarkets, and handmade celebratory confections, tourist souvenirs and everyday sweets came to exist side by side.<\/p>\n Individually wrapped alfajores displayed in a Buenos Aires shop. An example of the confection being sold as a gift or to take home. Photo: AsadoExplorer, 2024-06-26, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Original size; no additional processing.<\/p>\n \u30fbTapa dulce<\/strong>: A Costa Rican non-centrifugal sugar. Its melted syrup is also used in grain-flour confections.\n\u30fbMandioca: Cassava. Starch obtained from its root is also used for the outer layers of confections.\n\u30fbMadelina: A maker that produces alfajores in Asunci\u00f3n. A modern example of combining flours.\n\u30fbRosario Olivas Weston: A food culture researcher who collected Peruvian family recipes and documented the confections of Moquegua and the northern coast.\n\u30fbGonzalo Chac\u00f3n: An author who depicted Costa Rican history and customs in stories. The scene of the wedding confections is a literary re-creation.<\/p> \u30fbDulce de leche<\/strong>: A brown, sweet food made by heating and concentrating milk and sugar. A representative filling in South America.\n\u30fbManjar blanco: A sweet made by cooking down milk, used in Peru as a filling for confections.\n\u30fbMaicena: A name for cornstarch. Alfajor de maicena is an alfajor that uses it in the dough.\n\u30fbHojarasca: A thinly baked dough used in Chile for the layers of confections and as the outer layers of sandwiched confections.\n\u30fbChancaca: A non-centrifugal sugar made from sugarcane. It is cooked to give fillings their sweetness and color.\n\u30fbHermenegildo Zuvir\u00eda: Known as Merengo. A maker who ran a shop in Santa Fe in the mid-19th century and whose name has been passed down in connection with the history of the city\u2019s alfajores.\n\u30fbNieve: Spanish for \u201csnow.\u201d For Uruguayan alfajores, the name for those coated in white icing.\n\u30fbLitoral: A region extending along the rivers of northeastern Argentina.\n\u30fbCapia: A type of corn that is ground into flour and used in the Andean region and elsewhere.\n\u30fbFederico Corriente: A linguist who studied Spanish vocabulary derived from Andalusi Arabic.\n\u30fbFrancisco Delicado: The author of the tale La Lozana andaluza, published in 1528, in which an old word form referring to a confection appears.\n\u30fbProtected geographical indication: A system that protects food names tied to their place of production. It applies not to the general name of a confection but to individual registered names and their specifications.<\/p> \u30fb\u201cI Tried Buying the Peruvian Sweet \u2018Alfafores\u2019,\u201d 2025<\/a> \u2014 A traveler\u2019s account of buying a do-it-yourself souvenir at the Lima airport, sandwiching it at home, dusting it with powdered sugar and eating it.<\/p><\/li> \u30fbRoyal Spanish Academy, Diccionario de la lengua espa\u00f1ola, \u201calfajor\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The etymological theory of fa\u0161\u00far<\/em> and af\u0161or<\/em> (\u201cjuice\u201d) and the regional senses of the word. It does not present a continuous history of the method.\n\u30fbFederico Corriente, \u201cLa cocina de la Lozana andaluza,\u201d pp.546\u2013547<\/a> \u2014 A linguistic study of the confusion between the forms and meanings of al\u1e25a\u0161\u00fa<\/em> and fa\u0161\u00far<\/em>. It is not a paper presenting a continuous history of the confection\u2019s formulations.\n\u30fbFrancisco Delicado, La Lozana andaluza, transcribed text<\/a> \u2014 \u201crosquillas de alfaxor\u201d in the tale published in 1528. It shows the name of a ring-shaped confection but is not a recipe for the modern sandwich confection.\n\u30fb2001 resolution adding a definition of alfajor to the Argentine Food Code<\/a> \u2014 The country\u2019s product definition: two or more pieces of baked dough, a filling and an optional coating. Cited as the regulation of that time; compliance with current law is not assessed.\n\u30fbArgentina.gob.ar, \u201cAlfajores\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The theory of al-has\u00fa<\/em> (\u201cfilling\u201d), the history of transmission by way of Iberia, and Argentina\u2019s regional fillings and doughs. The etymological theory is compared with that of the RAE.\n\u30fbNicol\u00e1s Alberto Trivi, \u201cEl alfajor, un an\u00e1lisis de la golosina nacional argentina desde la geograf\u00eda cultural\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The range of doughs and coatings, the history before Mar del Plata, mass tourism, and souvenir packaging and distribution. It is a study from the 2020 volume and has not been used as a basis for current sales figures.\n\u30fbBOE, \u201cOrden APA\/4414\/2004\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The rules for Medina Sidonia published in 2005, with the ingredients and shaping process. A structural description of the specifications reviewed, not an assessment of compliance with current law.\n\u30fbPromPer\u00fa, \u201cCocina de la Costa Norte\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The size of King Kong, pineapple and manjar blanco.\n\u30fbArgentina.gob.ar, \u201cPresentar las tradiciones de nuestro pa\u00eds para ense\u00f1ar espa\u00f1ol en Estados Unidos\u201d<\/a> \u2014 A first-hand record of actually making alfajores of maicena dough filled with a milk sweet and rolled in coconut.\n\u30fbFUCOA\/FIA Patrimonio Alimentario de Chile p256<\/a> \u2014 Chilean hojarasca, conserva made with honey or chancaca, and a tablilla recipe and the events associated with it, from a maker in Navidad.\n\u30fbConcejo Municipal de Santa Fe 2024-08-15<\/a> \u2014 Santa Fe\u2019s two thin, salty layers, milk filling and meringue; the history of Zuvir\u00eda\u2019s shop from 1851; and the approval of the ordinance in 2024. It does not give a year of invention for South America as a whole.\n\u30fbAlfajores Merengo, \u201cHistoria\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The shop\u2019s own history, including its origins in 1851\/1852 and the account that participants in the 1853 convention stayed on the upper floor, as well as the souvenir scene by the writer Mateo Booz. It is not a record of purchases by all of the convention\u2019s attendees.\n\u30fbConcejo Municipal de Santa Fe, \u201cUn recorrido que rescata al alfajor santafesino,\u201d September 3, 2014<\/a> \u2014 An exhibition organized by the council and the council president\u2019s statement that participants in 1853 ate the confection. It is not a direct record of what was served at the convention.\n\u30fbDurulte \/ Portezuelo, own product categories<\/a> \u2014 Two-layer and three-layer types, and chocolate and nieve types, produced by a Uruguayan maker.\n\u30fbDurulte \/ Portezuelo cl\u00e1sico nieve<\/a> \u2014 An actual example of nieve with soft dough, dulce de leche and white icing.<\/p><\/li> \u30fbTurismo Regi\u00f3n de Murcia, \u201cLos dulces navide\u00f1os m\u00e1s tradicionales de la Regi\u00f3n de Murcia\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The Murcian confection sandwiched between obleas, its ingredients, the Cross of Caravaca and the Christmas setting. Confirmed in the relevant paragraph of the text as captured by search indexing.<\/p><\/li> \u30fbRosario Olivas Weston, \u201cLos dulces tradicionales del Per\u00fa,\u201d in Patrimonio, Identidad y Memoria (Universidad Ricardo Palma, 2014), pp.295\u2013296, 310\u2013312<\/a> \u2014 Her own collection of family recipes and regional research. The old Trujillo recipe, and in Moquegua the whipping, surface drying and changes in the syrup and milk fillings.<\/p><\/li> \u30fbASALE, Diccionario de americanismos, \u201calfajor\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The northwestern Costa Rican sense of a confection of syrup and roasted corn flour.\n\u30fbMilena Cerdas N\u00fa\u00f1ez \/ Patricia Sed\u00f3 Mas\u00eds, \u201cRescate de preparaciones a base de ma\u00edz en Costa Rica\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An alfajor of roasted flour, non-centrifugal sugar syrup, cinnamon and cloves, recorded through local interviews.\n\u30fbGonzalo Chac\u00f3n, Tradiciones costarricenses, \u201cUna boda sonad\u00edsima,\u201d published text<\/a> \u2014 Mentions pineapple and ginger alfajores in a scene depicting an 1838 wedding in Cartago. It is a later literary work, not an original record of an 1838 menu or a formulation for the thin layers.\n\u30fbMarjorie Ross, Entre el comal y la olla, EUNED 2001, bibliographic record<\/a> \u2014 The book that Spanish-language Wikipedia cites for the Cartago type with thin layers of white corn and pineapple. The relevant text could not be checked this time, and it is not used as a basis for any specific recipe combining these two ingredients.\n\u30fbMadelina product catalog<\/a> \u2014 The flour combination and fillings of one current product. It is not a definition of the traditional formulation for Paraguay as a whole.<\/p><\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alfajores sandwich a rich, milky sweetness between two pieces of dough. In the form commonly seen in Argentina, they are filled with dulce de leche, and a chocolate coating or coconut gives the outside another character.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7102,"menu_order":73,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Alfajores","subtitle":"An everyday South American confection with a sweet filling sandwiched between two pieces of dough","topics":"Dulce de leche\uff0fDough\uff0fRegional variations","country":"Argentina","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["chocolate","cream","honey","grain"],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[151],"class_list":["post-8318","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"manual","sweetlore_related_articles":[8260,8248,8249,8250,8251,8254,8255,8257]},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![\"A](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/ba0dbf6cadc206fe13f0393a08deb4760b8f789950431303a1a872825315670b.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
\nTwo etymological theories about the name alfajor<\/h2>\n
Differences in dough, filling and finish<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"Alfajores](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/3f65d85f1ec25559aefd7e271a584d74519a4ef6c9fe3afc49faa4ee4e4e098b.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
\nIngredients and methods in Costa Rica and Paraguay<\/h2>\n
Peru\u2019s King Kong, penco and confections of thin baked dough<\/h2>\n
In Chile, a filling of grain flour and syrup is sandwiched between thin baked dough<\/h2>\n
Santa Fe\u2019s salty layers and Uruguay\u2019s white icing<\/h2>\n
A souvenir confection that spread along Argentina\u2019s coast<\/h2>\n
![\"Individually](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/8b690d498a7efa2286278d12bbb81f4aa2a024509a12aed69f85ff453549e256.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
<\/p>\nGlossary<\/h2>\n
References<\/h2>\n
![Original image<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Alfajores_en_blanco_y_negro_de_una_alfajoreria_en_Rosario.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Alfajor-P1060387.JPG\"){kind=link}
![Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Alfajorartes.JPG\"){kind=link}
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