🇦🇷 Sweet News: You Can Get Perfect Alfajores In Queens 🇦🇷
The Argentine treat is one of our favorite things we ate this year.
The Deligram highlights some of the best food artisans making delectable things in and around New York City. For the last few weeks, we’ve been featuring some of our friends’ favorite things they purchased this year, like snackable almond biscotti, an unbeatable non-stick pan, and a perfect spiral ham. One of our favorite things we purchased this year was Mendulcina’s Alfajores. Mirta Rinaldi, who makes the Argentinian treat in her home kitchen in Queens, sometimes with the help of her daughter Paola, created the name Mendulcina, by combining the word Mendocita or “woman from Mendoza,” her hometown in Argentina, with dulce, the Spanish word for “sweet.”
The Product: Alfajores de Maizena, traditional Argentinian shortbread cookie sandwiches filled with dulce de leche and rolled in shredded coconut.
How to Buy: Order on mendulcina.com.
Price: $24 for a dozen cookies.
The Deligram Tip: A box of Alfajores ($24) would be the perfect addition to any holiday celebration or a memorable hostess gift that’s guaranteed to earn you another invitation.
How did you decide to launch Mendulcina?
Mirta: I was laid off from a big job, and decided to start working on my passion – cooking. I had a job for 12 years working for a songwriter and philanthropist where I wore many hats – it was a 24/7 job and there was no time for me. I said to myself, if I don’t do this now, I’ll never do it. You realize that in this life, you have to reinvent yourself many times and I’m not afraid of doing that. I’m courageous and I just go for it – with money or without money.
My mom was my biggest inspiration, because she loves to cook and I cooked a lot with her while growing up. Every year, we had this family reunion in Argentina where we would cook for the entire weekend – jellies, quince paste, and also making the tomato sauce for the year. Everyone had their particular job, whatever was needed. So I have a lot of experience cooking for friends and family.
So it’s been my life, I have always had that passion for cooking. Many years ago, I started bringing condiments with me to Mendoza on every trip. One year it was Chinese, another Indian, and we started to organize theme parties. For the Spanish theme we ate paella and brought our flamenco dresses. Every time we traveled, more friends would come. It started with about 20, and ended up being 40 or 50 people.
Alfajores are my main dessert, and I learned [how to make them] from my mom. They are a sweet that can be found in every home [in Argentina] for every celebratory occasion – my mom made them for the family. Now I make about 200-300 per week from my home. Ours are Alfajores de Maizena, made with cornstarch. It’s a shortbread cookie stuffed with dulce de leche.
I also teach cooking classes from my house through a program called League of Kitchens. The concept of the school is to teach food and culture so we do it from our homes and have different menus – but most of ours have alfajores included, which have been very successful. Through League of Kitchens, Oprah’s O Magazine visited several classes, and they decided to photograph my class. Then, Food and Wine Magazine tested some of the recipes and decided to replicate and publish my alfajores cookie recipe for Christmas alongside some of the other instructors. Now, we sell the alfajores online. I also make quince paste, which I also learned from my family. I make it in a very traditional way in copper pots. It’s a limited production, we make it maybe three times a year.
What is your dream for the business?
Mirta: The idea is to integrate some of my signature cookies and sweets with a mate ceremony I also host. Mate is our national drink. I just finished hosting a ceremony in my home to celebrate National Mate Day on November 30. It was a feast! We have created an amazing tasting and sensorial experience, giving students the chance to try different mates and different ways of drinking it: with warm milk, like I drank as a child, or with cold lemonade, which is a very refreshing drink called terere.
Paola: The cultural literacy is important for us, but that part doesn’t pay the rent. So it’s a little bit of both. Even though mom has lived here for 45+ years, it’s Argentina inside her house. So it’s doing that, to keep showcasing some of the products that have proven to be most successful. We’ve been in talks with coffee shops and new spaces where we can recreate these cultural workshop immersions, so there is an interest on both of those sides. To scale would be nice, but to do it quickly and vastly you need infrastructure for that. So we’re trying to create something unique, to create an experience. Word of mouth has been really successful for us, beyond any digital marketing or press. And we love seeing people’s reactions.
Mirta: Paola wants to make a video of every time someone tries the alfajores for the first time and you hear that “mmmmmm.”
What are some of your favorite Argentinian restaurants in New York?
Mirta: We have a corner in Queens called La Esquina Criolla. It’s the most Argentinian corner – even the poles are painted with the flag. There is a restaurant called