Tag Archives: dulce de leche

Desayuno Dulce

02 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in buenos aires, restaurants

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Despite the abundance of decidedly indulgent food featured on the blog, believe it or not, we generally eat pretty healthy (healthily? healthfully? I need a copy editor). Whatever. My point is, every once in a while you just have to treat yourself. As I’ve mentioned before, breakfast and brunch are not a huge deal in Buenos Aires. The standard at the local cafés is usually along the lines of some tostadas with queso crema and mermelada, or a pile of medialunas. Cue sad trombone. I say, if you’re going to carb load why not just fully commit? Bring on the pastries.

After sampling pastries from a variety of panaderías and confiterías in San Telmo, I’ve finally found my favorite in the barrio. All you people who swear by Del Amanacer…well, you’re just wrong.

Panadería y Confitería Santa María is an unassuming shop on Defensa with an ever-present display of delicate alfajores in the window…and not a whole lot else. Unless you count the decorations for Christmas, New Year’s and Easter that stay in the window year-round. But hey, no judgement. You’ll be willing to overlook that when you step inside on a weekend morning, look to the left, and find a wall full of pastries of every shape, color and size. There’s a wide variety of medialunas, a selection of churros, and other breakfast delights stuffed with membrillo, some sort of cheesecake-like topping that I have yet to identify, and of course, dulce de leche. You can select your own mix of a dozen sweet treats for $24 pesos.

PANADERÍA Y CONFITERÍA SANTA MARÍA DE AGUILERA

Defensa 670 en San Telmo, Capital Federal

Cachafaz: El Mejor Alfajor

10 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in buenos aires, desserts

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Buenos Aires is overflowing with dulce de leche. Whether it’s stuffed in a pastry, spread on a tostada, or my personal favorite, eaten by the cucharada, this caramel spread is a pervasive Argentine treat that makes its way into breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Perhaps the most common appearance of dulce de leche in Argentina is sandwiched between two shortbread cookies in the famous alfajor. I’ll just nip this in the bud for all the immature giggling gringos: yes, that’s pronounced in a way similar to how one may refer to a number one prostitute in English. Sigh. Some people….

I’ve not yet attempted to create my own alfajor. There are so many already on the market, I’ve kept myself busy sampling them all instead. The windows of every confitería in Buenos Aires boast piles of the delicate cookies, dusted with powdered sugar, rolled in coconut or dipped in chocolate. Many cafés and restaurants have their own home-made versions, ranging from tiny bite-sized cookies to cookies as big as your face. And kioscos on every corner offer a variety of pre-packaged options.

Of course, being somewhat snobbish about things like this (homemade > store-bought) that was the last place I expected to find a winner. But hands down, without a doubt, no two ways about it, Cachafaz es lo más. The best of the best. The alpha alfajor.

Cachafaz makes a variety of alfajores, but my favorite is the basic dulce de leche version: thick, creamy dulce de leche sandwiched between two buttery shortbread cookies and rolled in coconut flakes. They can be found at any local kiosco or supermercado chino for around $7 pesos a pop.