Alfajores de Maizena

Since I can remember, my mom used to make them for my sibling and I at every birthday (we are 7 Kids so imagine we have them very often)  When I got a little older I will help her fill them up with smooth Caramel and then the fun part, running them on shredded coconut for the final touch. For every few I made, one will go magically into my stomach.  This sweet treat was always present during my childhood, they are supposed to be smooth, sweet and a little dry, perfect to eat with a cup of warm chocolate or milk.

Here is the recipe.
Ingredients:

• Butter (room temperature) 7 Oz. / 200 Gr. 
• All purpose flour  1 1/2 Cup / 200 Gr. 
• Corn Starch (this is the main ingredient) 10 Oz. / 300 Gr. 
• Baking Soda 1/2 TS
• Baking Powder 2 TS 
• Sugar  3/4 cup / 150 Gr. 
• Egg yolk 3 
• Vanilla Extract 1TS
• Lemon zest (optional) 1 TS 
• Cognac (optional) 1spoon

Filling:

• Dulce de Leche (look in the ethnic isle) or Caramel (has to be a more solid texture than the regular caramel sauce. Almost like icing consistency. 
• Shredded Coconut 

Step One:
Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl. Flour, corn starch, baking soda and baking powder.

In a mixing bowl add: Room temperature butter (has to be creamy but not liquid, sugar, egg yolks, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Until is all mixed and creamy.

Add slowly the dry ingredients until they all mix in a very thick dough. It gets really hard to mix at the end that you may need to use your hands to finish.

Lightly flour your table and place the dough on top. Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into 1/4" thick. Cut into round shapes, like Christmas cookies, using a 1 1/2 inch cookie cutter or be creative and use any shape you like.

Put them into a baking sheet and bake them between 8 to 10 min depends on oven in a medium temperature (350 degrees) the bottom of the cookie should be slightly gold. 

Let them cool off for about 10 minutes and then fill the cookies with "dulce de leche" like a sandwich, when pressing the cookings some of the dulce de leche will get t the sides, roll them into shredded coconut and set them in a tray.