Alfajor in Argentina

I had never heard of this great dessert/cookie that is common in Argentina. When we had made the decision to go over to that side of the falls the one thing my husband had on his mind was finding these.

He heard about them from his coworkers and they actually had some at our local grocery store around Christmas, but they are no where to be found now. Our local bakery, Marcos, has their version and we had tried one in the Sao Paulo airport once, but we wanted to try the real thing from where it originated.

I guess I should explain Alfajor before I go any further. It is two-wafer type cookies with a huge layer of doce de leite (a caramel made of milk and sugar) in the middle. Then the whole thing is covered by a thin layer of chocolate. I think it is similar to a Little Debbie snack, but my husband is always quick to remind me that I am wrong and that they are so much better.

We were delighted to see a Havanna shop right on the grounds of Iguazu park in Argentina! This is actually the same brand that they sell in the Sao Paulo airport, but this little shop was much nicer.

There was Alfajor and variations of similar sweets everywhere. We also learned about all the different varieties. There were those filled with chocolate and some with a fruit mixture. Some were covered with dark chocolate and some with white chocolate. I stuck with the standard and it was great. Much better than the others we had tried previously.

We were hoping to find more around town on the Brazil side (with it being so close to Argentina) so we could take home a box, but didn’t find anything. It wasn’t good timing to get a box from Havana with the heat in the car and all that. At least we can say we had a real Alfajor in Argentina.

And take a look at this exciting news. This was a poster outside the shop. Do you see what I see? Why yes, those look like…to-go cups!!!

Come on Brazil, or at least Maringá, we’ve got to get with the program. Am I going to be forced drive to Argentina for my to-go coffee?