Alfajores

The name and concept are Andalusian-Arab — al-hasú (the filled one) — brought to Spain by Moors before the 1492 reconquest, then to the Americas with colonization. The South American version with dulce de leche (a 19th-century Argentine invention) spread across the continent; in Peru, the Limeñan version with thick maicena (cornstarch) shortbread became dominant, distinct from the chocolate-coated Argentine style.

Name traces to Andalusian-Arab al-hasú (the filled one), brought to the Americas with Spanish colonization. The dulce de leche filling is a 19th-century Argentine addition; Peru's Limeñan version uses a 1:2 flour-to-cornstarch ratio that makes the cookie crumble to powder.

Two pale, snow-white shortbread discs sandwiching a thick layer of dulce de leche, dusted with powdered sugar. The cookie is so high in cornstarch and so short on gluten that it crumbles to powder in the mouth — almost no chew. The caramel is brown-sugar deep, cooked dark enough to taste of cooked milk rather than just sweet. Often rolled in shredded coconut at the edge.

Cornstarch is what makes a Peruvian alfajor melt rather than chew — it has no gluten, so the dough has no elastic structure to bite through. The flour:cornstarch ratio is usually 1:2, the inverse of normal cookie ratios. The dough must be rested cold or it spreads into puddles. Pisco or lemon zest in the dough cuts the richness of the caramel; without it, the sandwich reads as cloying.