Alfajores with hazelnut cream

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 200 g hazelnuts
• 1 tbsp condensed milk, sweetened
• 90 g dark chocolate, 70%
• 1 tsp vanilla flavor
• 210 g wheat flour
• 65 g cornstarch
• 65 g powdered sugar
• 200 g butter

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest time approx. 8 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 12 minutes; Total time approx. 8 hours 57 minutes

Peruvian recipe

Cut the butter into pieces and let it warm slightly at room temperature. Have a baking sheet lined with baking paper ready. For the filling, roast the hazelnuts with the thin brown shells in a pan without fat, stirring constantly, until the nuts are lightly browned and fragrant. Place the hazelnuts on a tea towel, hold the towel like a bag, and shake until most of the shells have fallen off. Hazelnuts that haven’t completely come off the shell should be peeled by hand. It’s okay if some shell remains on the hazelnuts, but then the mixture won’t be as creamy. Use a food processor to process the nuts until they form a creamy mixture. Use a spatula to scrape down the edges of the mixture to break up all the pieces. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a water bath. Easy version: Heat about 200 ml of water in a small saucepan and cover the pan with a plate. Place the chocolate on the plate to melt. Break the chocolate into large pieces to speed things up. Mix the melted chocolate with the hazelnut spread. Stir the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract into the mixture. You can also use another sweet liquid instead of sweetened condensed milk (e.g., date syrup). It all depends on your personal taste and how much sugar you like. Mix everything together using a whisk or spoon. For the cookies, sift 190g of flour, cornstarch, and powdered sugar into a bowl. Make a well in the center and add the butter pieces. Cover the butter with the flour and knead into a dough by hand or with a hand mixer. Form a ball, wrap in cling film, and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut into small pieces. Then wait until the dough has softened slightly. Help it along by kneading it with your hands. Knead the individual pieces back into a ball and gradually sprinkle with the remaining sifted flour. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/convection oven. Flatten the balls by hand into flat discs. They should be no more than 0.3 cm thick. Arrange the discs 5 cm apart on the baking paper. Cut out the discs using a round cookie cutter and form more balls from the resulting scraps. I recommend making the cookies no larger than 3 cm in diameter so they are bite-sized. Bake the cookies in the oven on the middle rack at 180°C fan/convection oven for about 10-12 minutes. Do not touch the cookies immediately after baking; let them cool for another 5-10 minutes. To fill the cookies, use a piping bag or a teaspoon to put some cream in the center of the cookies and carefully place two cookies on top of each other and press down. Be careful, the cookies may still be a bit fragile.