Photo by Michael Piazza

Doris Montoya turned her baking skills into a business thanks to a push from her son, Marco. While Marco was in college, she would send him her homemade Peruvian pastries. To Montoya they were a go-to pastry she grew up baking, but to Marco’s college buddies they were a one-of-a-kind treat.

The business, Doris’ Peruvian Pastries, blossomed out of the family’s Marlborough kitchen, with the help and support from Marco; Montoya’s other son, Gabriel; and her husband, Marco Antonio Flores. The company offers an assortment of homemade Peruvian pastries. Alfajores, South American sandwich cookies, are the most popular. Montoya’s special Peruvian version is made with a blend of flour and cornstarch, which creates a delicate butter cookie that “is so soft it melts in your mouth.” The cookies are filled with the rich caramel spread, dulce de leche (called “manjar blanco” in Peru). She has perfected the “two-bite pastry” with scalloped edges and a dusting of powdered sugar. They can be purchased gluten-free too.

In addition to the alfajores, Doris’ Peruvian Pastries sells an array of other Peruvian pastries including orejitas, or “elephant ears,” sugary, flakey rolled cookies; rosquitas, crisp, roped cookies with anise; and cocadas, a Peruvian take on coconut macaroons. They also sell pickup-only confections such as pionono, a cake roll filled with dulce de leche in vanilla or chocolate, and milhojas, a layered cake of dulce de leche and puff pastry.

Doris’ Peruvian Pastries delicacies are sold online, by phone, at local farmers markets and regional specialty markets.

dorisperuvianpastries.com

This story appeared in the Spring 2019 issue.