As far back as the eighth century, an early form of the alfajor existed in the Middle East. It was referred to as “alajú,”which is the Arabic word meaning “stuffed” or “filled”. It’s believed that this cookie consisted of dried fruit preserves that were rolled in dough before getting rolled in sugar or nuts. When the Moors traveled from the Middle East to occupy Spain, they brought this cookie with them and soon Spaniards started making their own version: a cylindrical cookie covered in almonds or powdered sugar that they called an “alfajor”.
When Spaniards began migrating to South America in the sixteenthcentury, they entered through the Rio de la Plata, which flows between Argentina and Uruguay. As they launched their conquests into the New World, they brought their traditional foods to the river banks, including their alfajores.
Soon, people groups around South America were creating their own versions, each region developing an adaptation of its own. This involved replacing the nuts and fruit of the Spanish version with fillings like dulce de leche and marmalade. They also thickened the dough to make shortbread-style cookies and started dipping thesandwich cookies in chocolate.
In the 1950s, the alfajores’ popularity exploded due to mass-produced versions getting sold in an Argentinian tourist town named Mar del Plata. Tourists would buy the foil-wrapped cookies there and take them back home, spreading the love for the cookies across their hometowns.
Today in South America, thereare restaurant chains dedicated to packaging the cookie for mass distribution, as well as artisanal varieties found in bakeries and pastry shops.Yet, in North America, quality alfajores are hard to find.Alfa Alfajores Bakeryis the only company in San Diego exclusively devoted to artisanal alfajores, including everything from traditional styles filled with dulce de leche to our modern vegan version made with date filling. Try one of our alfajores for yourself and see why people around the world have been eating them for centuries.
