Alfajores peruanos

Mix dry ingredients.In one bowl combine all 200 g cornstarch, 100 g flour, 5 g baking powder and 1 g salt. Whisk until the powders appear uniform; break up any compact clumps. The dry mixture is evenly pale, without large cornstarch lumps.

Cream butter and sugar.Beat all 150 g butter with 80 g sugar in a second bowl for about 4 minutes until aerated and evenly blended. The butter mixture looks lighter and holds soft ridges from the beaters.

Bring dough together.Add both yolks and all 5 ml vanilla, then fold in the full dry mixture just until a cohesive soft dough forms. Do not knead it like bread. No loose flour remains, and a pressed portion holds without becoming elastic. Use fresh eggs and clean equipment.

Chill the dough.Flatten the dough into one disc, wrap and refrigerate at 4 °C or below for 30 minutes. The disc feels firm enough to roll without smearing butter.

Cut the rounds.Preheat the oven to 175 °C. Roll the dough between sheets of baking paper to 5 mm; cut 32 circles using a 5 cm cutter and place in two spaced trays. The rounds are even in thickness, with neat edges and room between them.

Bake in two trays.Bake the two trays together in a properly preheated 175 °C oven for 12 minutes, swapping shelves halfway if they brown unevenly. Keep the tops pale. The bases are dry and faintly golden, but the tops remain light and the biscuits feel set at the edge. Use oven gloves for hot trays.

Cool before filling.Leave on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack for 10 minutes until the biscuits hold their shape and the filling will not melt. A biscuit lifts without bending or crumbling into warm crumbs.

Sandwich and dust.Match the 32 discs into 16 pairs; spread approximately 19 g of the 300 g manjar on each lower disc and set its partner gently on top. Dust the sixteen tops with all 20 g icing sugar. The manjar reaches near the edge without squeezing out, and each sandwich sits level.