PERU - Arequipa Alfajores

Country # 1 - PERU    

Peru is claimed to be the gastronomic capital of South America, with  specialities ranging from seafood on the coast  - ceviche (raw fish marinated in lemon juice, onion and hot peppers) , to corn and potatoes in the Highlands, hearty meat dishes - lomo saltado (stir fried beef), and cuy - guinea pig, and tropical yucca and fried bananas. Not sure about tasting guinea pig, but we'll see!!

I haven't seen too much in the guidebooks about cakes, but I'm sure we'll find some along the way!

Arequipa, Peru 

Well, for me, Arequipa has been the eating place of Peru. Here we tried all sorts of things from cheese ice-cream, to huge cream cakes, and frog juice!!

The owner of our hostel (La Casa de los Pinguinos) gave me great advice on where to go for the best coffee and cakes, and even gave me a huge pile of Peruvian cake recipe books to look through. She did say though that the recipes may not necessarily work back home because here they have a different type of sugar, and the altitude has an effect on the baking time!

Many a recipe book to try and translate from Spanish!!

Tarta Numero Uno 
So, we set off in search of cakes! First stop Café Luciano’s where the window display of huge fruit cream cakes draws you in.

Mmmmm! Which one to chose?

We sat in and whilst having a coffee and some local specialities, one person after another came in to buy one of the huge cakes from the window! Here I tried a biscuit we’ve since seen in many places around Peru – Alfajores. It’s basically shortbread sandwiched together with a thick gooey layer of dulche con leche (see below). Found a recipe in one of the books, but if it  doesn’t work out, I think it’d be easy to adapt with your own favourite shortbread!!

Recipe for Alfajores de Maicena (maize)

1 cup of margarine
1 cup of ground maize (or maybe ground almonds if that’s easier to find)
1 cup of flour
6 spoons of sugar
50 grams dessicated coconut
Dulche de leche (manjor blanco) * See notes later on

1. Put the butter and ground maize in a bowl with the sugar and flour.
2. Rub together into a dough, then roll out and cut into circles.
3. Bake in the oven at 170 for around 15 minutes
4. Leave to cool, then sandwich together with manjor blanco.
5. Make a mixture of the coconut and a bit of cinnamon (or cocoa) and roll the biscuits in it so it sticks to the caramel.

Dulche con Leche - definition from wikipedia

Dulce de leche (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈdulse ðe ˈletʃe]; Portuguese: doce de leite, IPA: [ˈdosi dʒi ˈlejtʃi]) is a thick, caramel-like milk-based sauce or spread.

Literally translated, dulce de leche means "sweet from milk". It is prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a product that derives its taste from caramelised sugar. It is a popular sweet in Latin America, where it is known under a variety of names. In Chile, Ecuador and Panama it is known as manjar. In Peru, Colombia and Venezuela it is referred to asmanjar blanco or arequipe, depending on regional variations. In Mexico and Nicaragua is is commonly called cajeta. It is also found in Brazil, known by its Portuguese name doce de leite.

Gloria - Dulche de Leche found in shops all over Peru!!