Download the Alfajores Recipe HERE: https://downloads-accent-explorer.pages.dev/recipes/Alfajores_Recipe_TAE.pdf What happens when cookies tell a story? Sergio teams up with Ms. Rita to bake a crumbly, creamy treat from Peru while learning new Spanish words along the way. From flour to powdered sugar, each step mixes in a little culture, a dash of language, and a whole lot of fun. By the end, you’ll see how sharing recipes is just another way the world speaks to us, through flavor, family, and friendship.
Download the Alfajores Recipe HERE.
What happens when cookies tell a story? Sergio teams up with Ms. Rita to bake a crumbly, creamy treat from Peru while learning new Spanish words along the way. From flour to powdered sugar, each step mixes in a little culture, a dash of language, and a whole lot of fun. By the end, you’ll see how sharing recipes is just another way the world speaks to us, through flavor, family, and friendship.
SERGIO: Hi there. It’s me, Sergio. The Accent Explorer. I’ve been hearing how much you’re enjoying the cooking episodes that we’ve been doing. So guess what? Today, we have another super yummy recipe from around the world to share with you. This one comes from Ms Rita who is from Peru. It’s called Alfajores Peruanos.
Alfajores Peruanos are crunchy, crumbly Peruvian sandwich cookies with a sweet, creamy filling in the middle…they are the perfect after dinner treat. And I promise you, as soon as you bite into one, the mixture of the flavors will make you feel like you’ve …POOF!... been whisked away to the busy, colorful streets of Peru.
Before we get our hands messy, let’s hear from Ms Rita herself. She’s got some wow-worthy, fun facts about her home country.
RITA: Hola! I am Rita. I'm excited to teach you all about Peru and one of my favorite dishes; Alfajores Peruanos. Peru is a beautiful country located in Western South America. The official languages of Peru are Spanish and Quechua, although there are over 70 more languages that are spoken in our country. Peru is also the place where potatoes were first discovered over 10,000 years ago. You're welcome!
SERGIO: Oh, boy. I was wondering who I should thank for the incredible deliciousness that are potatoes. Thank you Ms Rita’s ancestors! You’ve truly spoiled my tastebuds.
As we go along on this baking adventure today, Ms Rita will be introducing us to some fun, new Spanish words. When you hear us say them, try saying them out loud too.
Okay. Let’s get to it, shall we? Take it away, Ms Rita and of course, her spectacular sous chef, Mimsy!
RITA: We are going to start making the dough. So I like to have all the dried ingredients first and then we'll mix it up.
SERGIO: The dry ingredients for this recipe are flour, cornstarch, and powdered sugar.
RITA: All right. So we need one cup of harina; flour. How do you say flour in Spanish? Harina. Harina!
SERGIO: Can you say that with me? Harina. (Pause) Very good. Muy bien! You’re learning Spanish one tasty word at a time. Oh, and before we move on to the next step, here’s a little secret, go ahead and add another two spoonfuls of flour to the mixing bowl. It’ll help make the cookies that liiiiitle bit yummier.
RITA: Then, after the flour, I'm gonna do cornstarch. One cup of cornstarch.
SERGIO: In Peru, people often use something called “harina de chuño”. It’s like cornstarch’s cousin, but made from potatoes instead of corn. If you can track it down at a Latin market, that’s the secret to that real-deal Peruvian flavor. But don’t worry…either one works great!
RITA: And now we're going to do the powdered sugar, which is the secret to this being delicious. In Peru, we call it azucar impalpable.
SERGIO: Oh, that’s a fun one. Say it slowly with me. Azúcar. (Pause) Impalpable. (Pause) Great job! We’re going to add six tablespoons of the powdered sugar to our dry mixing bowl. Can you count to six in Spanish with Mimsy and Ms Rita? If you already know, say it along with us. Uno…dos…
RITA: Tres, Quattro, Cinco, Seis…Perfecto! Perfect. So now that you have the dry ingredients…we're going to grab this.
SERGIO: The “this” Ms Rita is talking about is something you probably have in your kitchen. Maybe hiding in that corner cabinet on top of all the pots and pans. It’s usually a shiny silver bowl with large holes in it for draining water. Do you know what it’s called? (Pause) That’s right. A collander. Or, as they say in Spanish…
RITA: Colador! It looks a little bit like a volcano right now. Imagine doing 200 cookies! That’s a lot! I know but I love doing this. It’s my favorite thing to do. You know why? Because my son loves it. That’s his favorite one. I always try to do whatever he likes.
SERGIO: Ms Rita’s son Nicholas is actually right here in the room with us, keeping a close eye on our cookie making.. He’s fourteen years old and he is learning to master this recipe too. You’ll get to hear him a little later in the episode.
Okay, so now that we’ve added the flour, cornstarch, and powdered sugar in the bowl, what do we do next?
RITA: Now we're gonna put some butter on it. So for this recipe in particular we’re going to need like 250 grams which is two sticks of butter. You know how you say butter in Spanish? Mantequilla.
SERGIO: Oooooh, I love the way that word dances out of your mouth. Mantequilla. Can you say it? (Pause) Perfecto!!
RITA: Who doesn’t love butter? I love butter. Do you love butter? Yes. Yeah, I know. Super delicious. Bread and butter is my favorite thing.
You know when I was little, there was a bakery down the street from my house and if you go at 4:00 clock in the afternoon, you'll get the bread fresh made.
SERGIO: Mmmm….fresh bread! In Peru, or even in Australia, bakeries aren’t just filled with sweets. They’re for fresh bread too. Now back to Ms Rita and Mimsy, who are adding the butter to the mixing bowl.
RITA: All right, so you know what I did? I cut the butter into pieces so it's easy for us to mix. So we have the butter right? Then we are gonna put just a little dash of salt.
Next we're gonna use my vainilla. Vanilla? Yes, Vainilla is very important. I love the smell of vanilla. It's my favorite thing. Yeah it smells really sweet. So we just put like a little drop like this. Just to give it some good smell.
SERGIO: Did you hear how Ms Rita said “vanilla”? It sounded almost the same, but with one little twist. She said vainilla with an “ahhyy”.. Can you say vainilla? (Pause) (SFX).
RITA: Now comes the tricky part. You know what is the tricky part? We're gonna have to do a good knead on it.
SERGIO: “Kneading”, which is what Ms Rita is talking about here, is when you use your hands to squeeze and squish everything until it sticks together like one big, soft ball of dough.
RITA: It’s really messy. I know. It gets super messy, doesn't it? Are we making the dough first? Always the dough first. The dough helps us to make the thing we need.
SERGIO: Right you are, Mimsy. We want to make sure we’re squeezing it enough so that it feels a little gritty; you know, like shrimp and grits!
Once we finish kneading our ingredients together, we’ll sprinkle flour onto our clean counter then slap the dough right on top. Why? Because we’re about to roll it flat with a rolling pin, like a pancake. Or as Ms Simone calls them in Germany; pfannkuchen.
RITA: We’re going to make it flat because we’re going to cut the cookies.
NICHOLAS: What's the point of putting flour when you already have the dough?
SERGIO: Great question, Nicholas! The flour keeps it from sticking to the counter and the rolling pin.
RITA: You know how I learned to do this? I always seen my aunts do it and I wanted to learn because Nicholas, my son, he loved it. So I started learning on my own and I tried multiple recipes, but I really liked this one.
Now this is the best part. I have different kind of cookie cutters. I have flowers, we could do flowers. We could do like a little dress. If it's Christmas you could do the Christmas tree so you can give it to your friends at Christmas. You could do a star. What do you want to do? I want to do a Christmas tree.
SERGIO: Great choice, MImsy. It may not be Christmas, but it’s always the right time for Christmas-shaped cookies.
RITA: How do you say Feliz Navidad? Feliz Navidad. Yes. It means Merry Christmas.
SERGIO: You know Feliz Navidad, don’t you? Just like the song. You know…(Begins singing) Feli-
NICHOLAS: Hold on. We’re going to get copyrighted!
SERGIO: Good point, Nicholas. Oh, and bakers, go ahead and pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. By the time you cut all of your fun shapes out, it’ll be ready for baking.
RITA: One thing that I love that I when I go to Peru that I really admire is that in Peru everybody's doing something. They are selling you candy, selling you cakes. Whatever they have they sell you like at the beach, you could see they sell you insurance, books, whatever you need. They're always hustling.
SERGIO: Okay, I think we’ve cut out all the dough we possibly can. Wow, look at those yummy Christmas trees on the baking sheet! I can’t wait to try them!
RITA: All right so now, it’s going to go in the oven. I like to take it to the fridge and let it cool down. Let it harden for a minute, so we're gonna do that. We're gonna put it in the fridge for like five minutes okay so it gets a little colder.
SERGIO: That little chill time helps them bake better, but it’s not a must do. [BEEP] Oh, that’s the oven pre-heated and ready! Let’s get these cookies in there. They’ll need to cook for….wait, how long??? 15 minutes??? Oh, boy. I guess we have to speed this up again.
[FAST FORWARD CHIPMUNK SFX]
[OVEN DING]
SERGIO: The cookies are ready! Let’s take them out with a grown-up’s help, let them cool for five minutes, then top half the cookies with our dulce de leche filling - a sweet, milky caramel.Then we put the other half of the cookies on top to make a sandwich. In Peru, some people also roll them in coconut flakes, but today, we’re skipping straight to the magical final touch…Powered sugar sprinkled on top!
RITA: I love to turn it around, because you want to have it on both sides. One side is okay, two sides is best than just one. I agree with you.
All right, you want to try the first one? Yes I'll try it. Do you like them? Mmhmm. Yes I love cookies too. They’re my favorite.
SERGIO: And that, my friend, is how you make Alfajores Peruanos. So Mimsy, I know you’ve got quite the sweet beak, so what did you think of Ms Rita’s Peruvian sandwich cookies?
MIMSY: I like all desserts so I liked it. It got all over my clothes and my nose.
SERGIO: Not only did we get a delicious treat, we also learned a few Spanish words along the way. Let’s see how many we remember. Ready, Mimsy?
MIMSY: Ready!
SERGIO: Alright, Explorer! Can you shout out the words before Mimsy? Here we go:
How do you say “flour” in Spanish?
MIMSY: Harina!
SERGIO: Excellent!. Powdered sugar?
MIMSY: Azucar impalpable!
SERGIO: Butter?
MIMSY: Mantequilla!
SERGIO: Vanilla?
MIMSY: Vainilla!
SERGIO: And finally, what did we cook?
MIMSY: Alfajores!
SERGIO: Great job! Ms Rita would be so proud! Baking with her has made me appreciate Peruvian culture even more. And seeing how happy she was to share stories from her home country? That’s the best part. Because the more we can pass on stories about who we are, and where we come from, the more we see that being different is what makes the world fun! .
Next week, I’m putting on my detective hat…because there’s a mystery to solve! We’re going to discover the secret hidden inside all of our last names. Will we find clues? Will we find treasure? You’ll have to join us to see.
Until then, keep exploring!