← Back to globe
Sweet · Cookie Sandwich

Alfajor

Alfajor — street food from Argentina
Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

Its name comes from Arabic, not Spanish — 'al-hasw,' meaning 'the filling,' a word the Moors carried into Spain centuries before it ever reached Argentina.

Two soft, crumbly shortbread-style cookies sandwiched around a thick layer of dulce de leche, often finished with a chocolate glaze or rolled in shredded coconut. Sold everywhere from bakeries to bus terminals, gas stations, and street kiosks.

Why it's made this way: The recipe traces back through Spanish colonization to Moorish Al-Andalus, then got reinvented locally around Argentina's abundant dulce de leche.

Roughly what's in it

230kcal
3gprotein
32gcarbs
10gfat
Estimated per typical street-vendor portion — not lab-tested.
Read it in context →

More from Argentina

🧉 Mate Choripán Empanadas Garrapiñada Milanesa al Pan 🌭 Pancho
Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.