~Fun Food Friday...Argentine cookie~

There are cookies here in Argentina called, "Alfajores" that are VERY POPULAR!  I decided I wanted to make some.  So, I went on-line and found this recipe. It's a short-bread type cookie. You make a "sandwich" by spreading "Dulce de leche" (a spreadable caramel) between 2 cookies and then you roll the edges of the caramel in finely grated coconut!
Super simple and yummy!
~Mary was GLAD I made them! =)~

~This was one of the first cookies we made.  We cut it the size the website told us and they were too BIG for such a rich cookie.  I took a picture of this one to show you that after Mary had already had ONE cookie...she found this one on a tray on the table and was "snitching" bites off of it. =)~  

~PURE ARGENTINA!!!  Alfajores...and a "YERBA MATE!" =) (This is the FUN Mate cup and straw that I got at the "Fruit Market" when we went to Tigre.~

So...We made smaller cookies (using a lid from a water bottle as a "cookie cutter" =) for these are the size we are used to seeing in the bakeries here.)

Click here for the recipe!  Alfajores...Argentine cookies     

On the grocery shelves here is something called "Dulce De Leche".  (A spreadable caramel!) There is nearly half of a grocery aisle FILLED with containers of Dulce de leche.  Below is a recipe for it.

Click here for Dulce de leche recipe

I have heard that a more simple way of making "Dulce de leche" is to take an UNOPENED can of Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT Evaporated Milk) remove the label and put it in a large sauce pan and boil it for at least 2 hours. Keep adding water so the can remains covered. When done, put cold water in the pan to let it cool off. Store leftovers in the refrigerator in a proper container.  So Delicious!!!
When I looked it up on line, it said that boiling the can can be dangerous.  So, if you prefer...here's another way to make it.  (I found this on line, I haven't tried it.)
You can also make it in a pie pan in the oven.
Oven method: Pour 1 can sweetened condensed milk into 9-inch pie plate. Cover with aluminum foil; place in a larger shallow pan. Fill larger pan with hot water. Bake at 425 for 1 hour or until thick and caramel-colored. Beat until smooth.
(For an "American version" If you can't find the "dulce de leche" (caramel) and don't feel like making it, you could put jelly (or choc. frosting) between the cookies and then roll in coconut or nuts.)
~We were very HAPPY with how our little cookies turned out...and when I served them to our landlady...she said that there are better than what's in the bakeries here! You can be assured that that made me SMILE! =)

~And since y'all may still be having winter weather...I wanted to cheer your heart that Spring and Summer are coming...by showing you my fun shoes that my sweetheart got me as part of my Valentine's gift.  When I saw these shoes I fell in LOVE with them!  =)  This is called "HAPPINESS for your feet!" =)~

Thank you for your prayers for our youth meeting with the Chinese youth AT OUR HOUSE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON, and for us as we try to get things packed up to store here, and packed to go back to Colombia in just 11 days!