Latin American and Spanish cookies and sweets are mostly built on two ingredients: milk cooked with sugar until it browns, and almonds ground with honey. Between them they account for most of what follows.
The confusing part is naming. The same milk caramel is dulce de leche in Argentina, arequipe in Colombia, manjar in Chile and Peru, and cajeta in Mexico — where cajeta also means something else entirely in Nicaragua. Sorting the names out is most of the battle.
This guide covers fourteen confections, cookies and candies. For the baked side — tres leches, conchas, churros, medialunas — see our guide to Latin American cakes and pastries.
Every Sweet in This Guide
| Name | Country | Built on | Texture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dulce de leche | Argentina & Uruguay | Milk caramel | Thick, spreadable |
| Arequipe | Colombia & Venezuela | Milk caramel | Thick, spreadable |
| Cajeta | Mexico | Goat milk caramel | Pourable |
| Alfajores | Argentina & Peru | Cookie + caramel | Soft, crumbly |
| Obleas | Colombia | Wafer + caramel | Crisp then chewy |
| Suspiro limeño | Peru | Caramel + meringue | Dense, airy on top |
| Turrón | Spain | Almond & honey | Hard or soft |
| Turrón de Doña Pepa | Peru | Anise dough + syrup | Sticky, layered |
| Polvorones | Spain | Almond shortbread | Collapses |
| Mantecados | Spain | Lard shortbread | Crumbly |
| Mazapán | Spain | Almond & sugar | Dense, smooth |
| Cocadas | Caribbean | Coconut & sugar | Chewy |
| Ka’i ladrillo | Paraguay | Peanuts & cane syrup | Hard, brittle |
| Kosereva | Paraguay | Bitter orange peel & cane syrup | Sticky, chewy |
The Milk Caramel Family
One technique, many names. Milk and sugar are cooked together for hours until the lactose and proteins brown, producing something thicker, milkier and less bitter than caramel — which is made from sugar alone.
- Dulce de leche — Argentina and Uruguay. Thick enough to hold a shape. Our guide to the best brands covers what to buy.
- Arequipe — Colombia and Venezuela. Essentially the same product under a different name.
- Cajeta — Mexico, and made with goat’s milk, which gives it a distinct tang. Thinner, made for pouring.
- Manjar or manjar blanco — Chile and Peru. Often slightly firmer.
Our comparison of dulce de leche, caramel and cajeta covers the differences properly, and you can make it from condensed milk if you cannot buy it.
Alfajores
Two soft cookies with dulce de leche between them, often rolled in coconut or dipped in chocolate. Argentina eats an extraordinary number of alfajores — they are the default snack — while the Peruvian version is smaller, sandier and dusted with icing sugar. Havanna is the benchmark brand.
Obleas
Two enormous paper-thin wafers with arequipe spread between them, assembled in front of you from a street cart. Colombian obleas take additions — cheese, blackberry jam, shredded coconut — which sounds wrong and is not.
Suspiro Limeño
Peru’s most extravagant dessert: manjar blanco under a cap of port-spiked meringue. Suspiro limeño translates as the sigh of a woman from Lima, which tells you how seriously it takes itself. For the rest of Peru’s sweets, from picarones to queso helado, see our guide to 26 Peruvian desserts.
How to make them at home: our classic alfajores recipe, plus the best alfajor brands if you’d rather buy. Go deeper on dulce de leche: where dulce de leche came from, recipes to make with it, desserts built on it, Colombian brevas con arequipe, dulce de leche flan, and how long an open jar really lasts.
The Almond Family
Turrón
Spain’s Christmas confection, and it comes in two forms that share almost nothing but a name. Turrón de Alicante is hard, with whole almonds set in a brittle honey nougat. Turrón de Jijona is soft, the almonds ground to a dense oily paste. Our full turrón guide covers the other varieties and which brands are worth it.
Turrón de Doña Pepa
Peru’s turrón shares the name and nothing else. Doña Pepa is anise-scented dough sticks stacked in layers, drenched in fruit syrup and covered in coloured sprinkles. It appears in October for the Señor de los Milagros processions.
Polvorones and Mantecados
Andalusian Christmas shortbreads, both made with lard rather than butter. Polvorones are named for dust and collapse the moment you press them, which is why each comes twisted in paper. Mantecados are marginally sturdier and often flavoured with cinnamon, lemon or almond.
Mazapán
Ground almonds and sugar worked into a dense paste and shaped. Spanish mazapán, particularly from Toledo, is far less sweet than the northern European marzipan and is shaped into small figures at Christmas.
The full turrón hub: every type, region and brand. More on turrón and its cousins: why Spain eats turrón at Christmas, turrón vs. nougat vs. halva, whether turrón is vegan or gluten-free, and the three houses worth knowing — 1880, El Almendro and Sanchis Mira. On the shortbread side, see Mexican hojarascas and Guatemalan champurradas.
Coconut and Cane
Cocadas
Shredded coconut cooked with sugar until it thickens, then dropped in spoonfuls to set. Cocadas turn up along every Caribbean coast in the region, chewy and intensely sweet.
Ka’i Ladrillo
Paraguay’s contribution to the cane-syrup family. Miel negra is boiled until a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a clean line, toasted peanuts go in whole or roughly chopped, and the mixture is poured into shallow moulds to set hard. The name means “monkey’s brick” — ka’i for the small native monkey, ladrillo for the shape.
Some cooks cut the sweetness with a squeeze of sour orange or grapefruit. Like several Paraguayan sweets it spread after the War of the Triple Alliance, when a cheap, filling, protein-heavy candy mattered. It is still sold in slabs at bus terminals and roadside stalls. See it in context in our guide to traditional Paraguayan desserts.
Kosereva
The other Paraguayan cane sweet, and the harder one to categorise. Peel from apepú, the sour orange that grows half-wild across the country, is boiled until the bitterness softens, then simmered in miel negra with cloves until the strips turn glossy and almost black.
The result sits between a preserve and a candy: sweet, then bitter, then sweet again, and chewy rather than brittle. Paraguayans serve it with a slab of fresh queso Paraguay, the same way this guide’s fruit pastes are served elsewhere. Jars keep for months.
Chancaca
Not a sweet in itself but the sweetener behind several. Chancaca is unrefined cane sugar sold in hard blocks, melted into a spiced syrup for Chilean sopaipillas pasadas and Peruvian picarones.
More sweets from the same shelf: Brazilian beijinho de coco, Argentine garrapiñadas, Chilean cuchuflí, espumillas, dulce de tejocote, and dulce de calabaza.
Buying and Keeping
Turrón is seasonal — it appears in Spain from November and largely vanishes by February, so buy it when you see it. Stored somewhere cool and dry it keeps well past Christmas.
Dulce de leche comes in two grades and the difference matters: standard for spreading, repostero for baking and filling, which is noticeably thicker and holds its shape between cookie layers. If yours has gone too firm, gentle warming brings it back.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is dulce de leche the same as caramel?
No. Caramel is sugar cooked alone. Dulce de leche is milk and sugar cooked together, so the browning comes from the milk proteins as well — the result is softer, paler and less bitter.
Are arequipe, manjar and dulce de leche different?
Barely. They are regional names for the same milk caramel, with small differences in thickness. Mexican cajeta is the genuine exception, because it is made with goat’s milk.
What is the difference between hard and soft turrón?
Alicante is hard, with whole toasted almonds suspended in brittle honey nougat. Jijona is soft, with the almonds ground to a paste until the bar is dense and slightly oily.
Why are polvorones wrapped in twisted paper?
Because they fall apart otherwise. The paper holds each one together, and the traditional way to eat one is to compress it through the wrapper first.
Is Peruvian turrón related to Spanish turrón?
Only by name. Turrón de Doña Pepa is layered anise dough soaked in fruit syrup — no almonds, no honey nougat, no resemblance beyond the word.
Which should I try first?
An alfajor. It is the most immediately likeable thing on this list and it introduces dulce de leche, which unlocks half the others.
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Jorge Garcia is the founder of AmigoFoods, where he has spent over 20 years helping readers discover authentic Latin American and Spanish cuisine. Raised in a Cuban-American household, Jorge learned to cook at the hands of his mother and grandmother, carrying forward generations of family recipes. That heritage, backed by his family’s four-generation history in the Latin food industry, inspired him to launch AmigoFoods in 2003. With more than 1,000 published articles on recipes, ingredients, and food culture, Jorge’s mission is simple: make authentic Latin cooking approachable for home cooks everywhere while honoring the traditions behind every dish.
