Alfajors with Coconut Milk Dulce de Leche (aka vegan caramel)

Alfajors are one of those amazingly simple yet delicious desserts popular in Spain and Latin America. I tried one for the first time when one of my friends came back from Argentina. After that, it seemed like these delicious caramel cookies were in every coffee shop coming alongside my espresso. It's funny how to are exposed to something for the first time and after that, you start to see it everywhere.

These cookies are different from the traditional alfajor because the lime zest cuts through the fat and sweetness of the caramel. Also, the coconut flavor adds an extra great dimension to the cookie. It tastes great on its own as an ice cream topping and is fantastic because it is essentially vegan caramel. I never thought I'd be able to find a vegan caramel sauce, but this is absolutely fantastic on sorbets and in these cookies.

Alfajors

Ingredients

• ¾ cups butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp vanilla or zest and juice of 1 lime
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup dulce de leche

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla
3. Blend in salt, baking powder and flour until dough comes together
4. Shape dough into ¾ inch balls and press to flatten
5. Bake for 11 minutes until firm. Let cookies cool completely and fill with dulce de leche

Coconut Milk Dulce de Leche

Ingredients

• 14 oz coconut milk
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar

Directions

1. Boil coconut milk, salt and sugar until thickened.