Heart Shaped Taro Alfajores Cookies Recipe

These little heart shaped alfajores make a great gift for Valentine's Day and are really quick and easy to make. Taro powder gives these cookies a beautiful lilac color and vanilla nutty flavor. The taro cookies are sandwiched around a filling of dulce e leche - a delicious combo.

I have a confession to make. I started watching Schitt's Creek last Friday, and guess what? I'm already on Season 6.. oops binge-watching much?! I've been hearing rave reviews about the show and finally decided to sit down and watch it. Well, it was indeed AMAZING and once I started I couldn't stop! There were so many moments where I found myself crying and laughing at the same time. Schitt's Creek is truly a heartwarming show, which I think is what we all need right now. If you've never seen Schitt's Creek, I highly recommend you watch it.

Speaking of HEARTwarming, Valentine's Day is just around the corner. To be honest, I don't really see the point of Valentine's Day. Why do we need a specific day to celebrate love? The way I see it though, expressions of love don’t have to be reserved for just one day in February. Everyday can be a reason to show your affection and share your feeling to your loved ones.

Although I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day, I will still find any excuse to make treats for my friends and family! I bought a set of heart shaped cookie cutters last year and haven't had a chance to use them. So I figured why not use it to make Alfajores. Feel free to make these adoarble heart shaped cookies on Valentine's Day, or tomorrow, or any day of the year!

WHAT ARE ALFAJORES?

Alfajores are soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookies from South America. These crumbly butter cookies are made with mainly cornstarch and sandwiched with a layer of dulce de leche. Sometimes you'll see Alfajores rolled in coconut or dipped in chocolate!

These taro Alfajores are very similar to the Taro Coconut Shortbread Cookies I made last time, except Alfajores are made with mainly corn starch, flour butter, and egg yolks. The delicate and crumbly texture in addition to sweet dulce de leche, pair really well with the earthy-vanilla flavor from taro powder.

If you're not a fan of taro, you can leave taro powder out of the recipe.

HOW TO MAKE ALFAJORES

• DRY INGREDIENTS: Whisk corn starch, flour, taro powder, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl.
• WET INGREDIENTS: In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together. Add eggs yolks and ube extract/purple food coloring and mix until well combined. (food coloring is optional)
• MIX: Add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mix until combined.
• CHILL: Form dough into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour to a few hours. You can also divide the dough into two discs.

• PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with cooking spray.
• ROLL & CUT: Take the dough disc out of the refrigerator. On a floured surface, roll the chilled dough to about ¼ in thickness. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut into shapes. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheet.

• BAKE for 8-9 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
• SPREAD: Flip half of the cookies upside down and spread a small amount of dulce de leche on each. Place a second cookie on top to create a sandwich and repeat.
• OPTIONAL: Dust cookies with powdered sugar or roll the sandwich sides in coconut.

If you make this recipe, please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Make sure you also tag me @onehappybite on Instagram and hashtag it #onehappybite so I can see your creations!

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