Meringue Alfajores from Uruguay

Step 1

For the cookies cream the butter with the sugar for a few minutes. Then add the egg and honey and mix well. Add flour, cornstarch, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder and mix until you get a dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least half an hour or overnight.

Step 2

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Step 3

Divide dough into two parts, put one part back in the fridge before using. Roll out second part to about 2 millimeters and cut out round cookies with 5 centimeters in diameter. This can be done with a cookie cutter or glass. You should get 30 cookies in total or even more, I usually get about Bake one baking sheet at the time for about 8-10min. Let cookies cool.

Step 4

For the filling look for two cookies of the same size and place about one teaspoon of dulce de leche onto the bottom one before sandwiching together.

Step 5

For the meringue boil the sugar with the water in a small pot for about five minutes. Meanwhile start beating the egg white until soft peaks form. Pour in the hot syrup in one stream into the egg white and beat until the egg white has cooled off. This may take around five minutes. The meringue should look glossy and be firm. With a knife smear meringue as a thin layer around the cookie, I usually leave the cookies on the surface for this.

Step 6

Heat oven to about 90 degrees Celsius and let the cookies dry for about 1 1/2 hours. The meringue still might be a bit sticky, but that's OK. Enjoy.