Alfajores

March 1, 2014

I stocked upwards on vegan caramel cans inwards the in conclusion weeks of The Cruelty Free Shop reassured me that I needn't hoard them whatever longer. I broke 1 out to fill upwards these alfajores, assembling as well as sharing them 'round piece watching movies alongside friends. 

Alfajores are a Spanish/Latin American sweetness as well as I intend this Viva Vegan! recipe most resembles the Peruvian style: flat, circular biscuits sandwiched together alongside dulce de leche. Romero offers chopped almonds circular the border equally an optional extra, but I idea pistachios would live fun instead. Her biscuit recipe is gorgeous as well as slowly to travel with, yielding great white shortbread biscuits fragrant alongside lemon, vanilla as well as nighttime rum. They're a piffling dry out on their own, but would live prissy alongside a loving cup of tea as well as are genuinely magical in 1 trial they run into the caramel as well as nuts.

Alfajores
(based on a recipe inwards Terry Hope Romero's Viva Vegan!)

3/4 loving cup margarine
2/3 loving cup icing sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 cups patently flour
2/3 loving cup cornflour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
generous pinch of salt
1 tablespoon soymilk
1 tablespoon nighttime rum
340g tin vegan caramel
1/2 loving cup pistachios, roughly chopped

Place the margarine inwards a large bowl as well as sift over the icing sugar. Beat them together until well-mixed as well as fluffy alongside an electrical mixer. Scrape the mixture from the sides of the bowl, add together the vanilla as well as lemon zest, as well as compaction it all approximately more. Sift inwards the flour, cornflour, baking pulverization as well as tabular array salt as well as compaction it all together, starting on a depression setting, until the mixture is crumbly. Pour over the soymilk as well as rum as well as compaction the mixture a in conclusion fourth dimension to shape a cohesive dough. Turn the dough onto a slice of plastic wrap, twine it upwards as well as refrigerate it for at to the lowest degree thirty minutes.

Preheat an oven to 160°C as well as business 1-2 baking trays alongside paper. Set out a large canvas of baking newspaper on a bench, suspension off one-half of the biscuit dough as well as house it on the paper. Fold over one-half of the newspaper as well as curlicue the dough to nearly 5mm thick. Use a 4cm diameter circular biscuit cutter (or a small-scale glass, perhaps?) to cutting out biscuits as well as accommodate them on the baking trays. Repeat alongside the remaining dough, curlicue upwards whatever scraps as well as proceed going. Bake the biscuits for 12-14 minutes - y'all don't desire them to larn golden, as well as hence trace them out equally presently equally y'all bring out a hint of coloring on whatever of them. Let the biscuits cool for v minutes on the tray earlier transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Place a spoonful of caramel onto the centre of a biscuit, as well as sandwich it alongside approximately other biscuit. Roll the edges alongside pistachios, I pressed most of them inwards yesteryear hand. Repeat alongside the remaining biscuits as well as serve ASAP.