A Taste of Home

My friend Maria is from Chile and we often talk about the foods she enjoyed there as a child. She hasn't lived there for many years, having immigrated to this country in her teens, but her memory of those wonderful flavors is sharp and she rejoices when she finds an authentic taste of Chile here in California.

Her most recent find is Alfajores, a sweet and simple shortbread and dulce de leche sandwich cookie made right over in Walnut Creek by Sabor del Sur. Being the lovely lady that she is, she bought two for My Beloved and me to taste.

They had me from the first bite of these powdery, buttery, caramel-y cookies. The dulce de leche is the filling between two pretty, fluted shortbread cookies powdered with confectioner's sugar. They melt in your mouth, instantly invade your veins and flood the pleasure centers in your brain with "WOW" messages. I can't imagine a richer accompaniment to a cup of tea or, better yet, hot, strong coffee.

If this is what life in Chile was like for her, I wonder why she ever left!