It’s been said that Portland has the best summer weather in the country.
That might be true. It’s usually 80-ish during the day and holds a gentle heat through the evening with the respite of cool happening later in the night, but lately it’s been super hot. Maybe it’s global warming, but like so many areas in the country, we’ve been living in 90 degrees plus.
Those temperatures surges, however, are tolerable with time-appropriate cold beverages like blackberry smoothies
or a bourbon rocks
and central air-conditioning makes everything better so we’ve been inside a little more than usual.
There’ve been more birthday celebrations.
Charlotte turned 14 and we made a day out of it.
We hung out a good part of the day with our favorite neighbor and her adorable baby.
We window shopped around Division
and had a late breakfast bite at Little T American Baker, one of my favorite bakeries in town.
We then returned to my neighbor’s oversized backyard with a fantastic new play structure that came all the way from one of my favorite areas of the country — Rockport, Maine.
We picnicked (one of my favorite verbs ever), enjoying this tomato-cucumber-Rainier cherry beauty
and pizza from Baby Doll.
Charlotte opened some presents and we just gabbed for hours.
Night time was all about treats of her choosing: Steak Frites for dinner and a family movie (a rom-com, natch).
Happy birthday, my beautiful daughter.
You are my sunshine. My cashmere poncho. My Yukon Gold potatoes drizzled with truffle oil.
What else do we have to show for ourselves?
There’s been other fun stuff going on around here — most of it food-related and enjoyed while binge-watching in air-conditioned comfort.
Breakfast sandwiches.
Pip’s Donuts.
Take out pizza from Ranch PDX.
Oversized Sharp Cheddar and Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (every one should be at least a foot long!).
And tomatoes around the clock.
Breakfast.
Lunch.
And dinner.
Who doesn’t love a scrumptious BLT — especially when the bacon is this insanely good, the steelhead roasted with lemon, and the tomatoes this luscious?
There’s been one more fun discovery around here.
Alfajores.
Not familiar with this cookie (famous throughout Spain and Latin Amercia)? They are a lovely, crumbly, shortbread-ish butter cookie that are filled with homemade dulce de leche.
I was browsing through some cookbooks lately looking for a new treat for us and I stumbled upon this book — one I haven’t cracked open in a long time.
The Alfajores recipe was the first one I noticed and I instantly remembered this cookie from my time in San Francisco. I used to run a food and wine shop there (located on the top floor of Neiman Marcus) and I was able to buy any local product I wanted. I sold an excellent version of this cookie at my bake shop and customers would come in and buy dozens of Alfajores at a time (one time a woman bought a couple hundred dollars of them and then overnighted them to friends).
This cookie inspires that kind of fanatical devotion, and I was eager to make them for the first time.
The recipe for the dough is simple enough, and it pulled together in minutes.
I rolled the dough out and then cut into dainty scalloped circles and put them back in the fridge to keep cold (so they wouldn’t spread too much while baking) and then set out to make the dulce de leche.
I make homemade caramel often enough that I wasn’t daunted by the process, but I either made a mistake or the recipe was a bit of wonky. My dulce de leche was too thin (despite cooking it 50% longer than maximum suggested time) and lacked the requisite deep caramel-y goodness (or maybe my milk didn’t have the requisite fat?). I even cooked it a little longer, still hoping to give it both an increased thickness and an enhanced flavor but no luck.
Stuck with this sub-par filling, Charlotte tasted it and recommend I cook it down with caramel added to it, and that’s exactly what it needed. The end result was sticky and caramelly and intensely fragrant and the perfect density for this cookie. (Big props to C on that one).
I baked off the cookies, let them cool and then filled them with the filling and returned them to the fridge (for some reason my rendition tasted better chilled than room temperature).
The cookies, originally crisp post-bake, softened considerably in the fridge with the filling inside, and we loved them.
Obviously you can choose the diameter/portion size. I opted to go-big-or-go-home sized (the size of a slider?) but mini ones would work really well, too (especially since they’re doubled up with a rich filling inside).
Do I recommend this recipe? Yes, but with the caveat that there might be a better one out there (and I know that there are far better bakers than I). I’ve already heard from Instagrammers about this cookie, and I’m hoping to get more hints along the way.
As we speak I’m waiting for a recipe from my stepson’s lovely girlfriend Tessa (her family is on Team Alfajore Obsessed) who always uses her Grandma’s recipe (with part shortening/part butter and her Dulce de Leche uses condensed milk.)
I mean, isn’t this a cookie worth perfecting?
(By the way, are you on IG? If so, say hi to me there and tag me with things you’re cooking. Find me on Instagram @portlandsampler.)
I’m not going to include the filling recipe from this book since I either goofed it or its amounts were off; either way, a simple Google search should do or you could even pick up a toothsome variation at TJ’s or at better grocery stores. I think I may even research Instapot and condensed milk?
Either way, find a way to include this delectable sandwich cookie in your life. And in the lives of those you most care about.
My little friend loved his micro-cookie so much he didn’t want to surrender the plate.
Your waistline might be sorry you discovered this gem– but your inner glutton will say hallelujah.
Enjoy, friends!
- 2¼ C. unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 8 Tbs. unsalted butter, very soft
- 1 C. sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tbs. brandy or rum
- 1 C. Dulce de Leche, homemade or purchased
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds in the oven.
- Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or fork.
- With a large spoon in a medium mixing bowl or with a mixer, mix the butter with the sugar until smooth and well blended but not fluffy. Add the egg and brandy and mix until smooth. Add the flour mixture and mix until completely incorporated.
- Shape heaping teaspoons of dough into 1 inch balls. (or, on a lightly floured surface, shape dough into a square and cut into 8 strips and then cut each strip into 8 pieces to make a total of 64 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 1 inch ball.)
- For miniature cookies, shape level teaspoons of dough into 96 smaller balls.
- Place the cookies 2 inches apart on lined or ungreased pans nad and flatten to about ½ inch thick.
- Bake for 14 to 16 minutes for larger cookies or 12 to 15 minutes for miniature cookies, until the edges are lightly browned. Rotate the pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time.
- For lined pans, set the apn or just the liners to cool; for unlined pans, use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to racks. Cool the cookies completely before storing or filling.
- Sandwich the cookies with a generous dab of cooled or room temperature dulce de leche.
- The cookies will soften as they stand. They are good crunchy or soft. May be stored in an airtight container for at least a week.
- (We liked them best cold, straight from the fridge).
Wow, now that’s the way to handle summer! So many wonderful foods, friends & shopping excursions.
A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY hug to sweet Charlotte!!! Oh, to be 14 once again.
Charlotte is becoming quite the baker. She will surpass us all.
BTW: A little up date on the rescue front. We thought we found the right pup, but alas it was not to be. But all hope is not lost as our daughter has asked us to take in one of her sweet companions. Little Phoebe is about 10 yrs old and can be a little handful at times. She’s a Sheltie~Pomeranian mix, sweet as can be, smart, obedient, very active for a senior girl. We’ve agreed to take her for a month until “life” settles for our daughter. The best part is we will have a pup to cuddle, walk & shower love on ~ at least for a month.
Howdy, Lacy. Thanks for chiming in and all the kind words. I wonder why the rescue pup didn’t work out? It sounds like you have a great interim solution for now, but I really hope you don’t give up your dream of being a primary dog owner. What things/places do you most like to do/go with your dog in the area? Hugs, Sarah
Hi Sarah, The rescue pup was so very precious, but just not for us. We thought a Mix terrier would be for us, but we were wrong. We’re looking for a Scottie or a Westie rescue. So the search continues. Good they’re very hard to come by, but sad for us that they’re hard to come by. (smile)
Being a homebody I usually stick around our neighborhood. We have a few parks here in Oregon City that are nice & dog friendly. But most often we take our walkies around our development. Thankfully we have sidewalks!
Hoping this weather cools soon. Sending hugs to you and the family, especially Porter. (smile)
I just lost the five pounds I was shooting for, for ages, now this!!!!!!!!!!! The crumb cake is my weakness. Growing up on the east coast they reminded me of Drakes coffee cake, hahahahaha but no comparison. Your little poochay is a lucky baby to have found a home as yours. So now it’s cookies and Alfred Hitchcock reruns while chilling in late afternoon. Ciao Amica
Hey Leonardo. OOh, I hear you on crumb cake. I LOVED those Drake Cakes until I had homemade. So you tried the crumb cake recipe here? I just had an amazing one at Little T American Bakery — a blackberry crumb cake that was sensational. And yes, Porter eats very very well (just this morning had an egg with some bacon). A pui tarde!
Oh yes, I made the mistake and tried the Crumb Cake. Absolutely a recipe for cheer and well received as a little gift to family or friends. Well I can relate to the well fed kids. Buddy and Moses eat like kings. By the way do you ever watch Diners, Drive ins and Dives on the food network? If so check out Pazzo San Carlos California. It viewed a few weeks ago. It’s my brothers restaurant. Yes later, keep up the wonderful work. Leonardo
Such a happy summer you and yours are enjoying. Happy Birthday to your beautiful daughter. We too have one, 2 boys…. she is now 32. I must bake me some of these….. I probably will purchase vs. make The Dolce,
I haven’t the “ know how “ to complete it as Charlotte has. They look delish! Thank you for sharing .
Good to hear from you, Cindy! Please let me know if you make them and how they work. I just had another one and I think they might be even better on day two. Self-control is sorely lacking over here… 🙂
It looks like you’re having a wonderful summer, and I’m happy you have central AC! I’ve been reminiscing about when we lived in the Bay Area and my kids wilted at 70 degrees. They’ve had to toughen up now that we’re in Oregon!
The cookies look delicious, and I know you’ll find the trick to getting the perfect filling.
WOW! With all of that, I’m ready for hibernation.