I love when people give me ideas of what to bake next. A follower on Instagram suggested that I should try making Yo-yo alfajores. By now, I think you know what alfajores are, shortbread cookies filled with dulce de leche, very popular in South America. After a couple of tests I would like to introduce you to this new version of Alfajores. Yo-yo are very popular in Uruguay. They are a bit different than the alfajores you will find on my blog. The dough is very soft and they don’t have flat tops like regular alfajores, they have a small dome that makes them special. Filled with dulce de leche and lightly coated in chocolate.

Also, in regular alfajores we use a a rolling pin to strech out the dough and use a round cookie cutter for the cookie part. In this case we do not do that. We pour the cookie dough into a pastry bag and we pipe on a baking sheet. Doing this method, we will create the small dome we need on the cookies.

About the filling: Sometimes dulce de leche is a bit hard to find but for this recipe I am using dulce de leche from a can by La Lechera. If you can’t find this milk-based caramel at your grocery store, you can make your own just by cooking one can of sweetened condensed milk. There are different methods to do this, boiling the can in a pan, instant pot, baking or in a saucepan. You can find recipes of how to make your own dulce de leche in other recipes here on my blog.

Let’s start with the recipe and if you would like to watch how I made these tasty cookies, visit me on Instagram @pastry_tales

Yield about 30 regular size alfajores

Ingredients

For the cookies

11 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature (not melted)

1 cup white granulated sugar

2 large eggs at room temperature

1/2 cup milk (I used 2% lactose free)

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 and 1/4 teaspoons vanilla

1 tablespoon honey (optional)

For the filling

1 can of dulce de leche

For the chocolate coating

1 bag of dark candy melts

Here is the one I use : Dark Chocolate Candy Melts

Directions

1.-Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

2.- In a bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and cornstarch. Mix and set aside.

3.- In another bowl and using an electric mixer, beat butter for about 2 minutes (just the butter). Then, add sugar and cream both ingredients until light and fluffy about 3 minutes.

4.- Add in eggs one by one beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and honey. Mix in medium speed until everything is well combined.

5.- Now we are going to add the dry ingredients to the sugar-butter mixture alternation with the milk. Start with the dry ingredients and finish with dry ingredients too.

6.- Pour into a plastic pastry bag and using a medium size round tip, pipe the cookies on top on your baking sheets. Always leave a space between each cookies. The size of your piping depends on how big you want your cookies to be.

7.- Bake for about 10 minutes. The edges and bottoms of your cookies should be slightly golden brown.

8.- Let them cool completely.

9.- Now, let’s make our chocolate coating. Melt a good amount of your dark chocolate candy melts. Just use a heat proof bowl and melt in the microwave. Do not melt them in high heat and always remember to stir after each minute. Stirring is important because that will prevent your chocolate from burning. If you think your chocolate is too thick, you can add a 1/2-1 teaspoon of oil, I always use vegetable oil. Stir and make it very very smooth. Grab half of your cookies and dip the tops into the chocolate. Place your cookies on a cooking rack on on top of foil. The chocolate will harden up.

10.- Then, spread dulce de leche on top of the other half of the cookies. I use a pastry bag so I have clean edges. Use a medium size round tip, squeeze some in the middle and then place the other half of the cookie on top (chocolate one). You will have a cookie sandwich.

11.- Storage this cookies in a airtight container but not in the fridge.

Enjoy!!!