CAKES AND DECORATING Sandwich Cookies & Creative Cupcakes Sandwich cookies are flying off the shelves at retail stores across the country, and panaderías can capitalize on this emerging trend by thinking outside the box. At Campbell's Bakery in Brentwood, New York, they make filled cookies and Italian biscuit cookies twice a week, and cookie sales are booming. This successful bakery has been blending the best of both worlds - Hispanic tres leches cakes and Italian cookies and pastries - under one roof ever since co-owner Greg Napolitano, decades ago, adapted to changes in their surrounding neighborhood, as more Hispanic households moved into this Long Island town. "You can't believe how many Italian cookies Hispanics buy," he says. "It's all a matter of education." Campbell's Bakery recently introduced a larger version of the Hispanic sandwich cookie known as alfajores - popularized in the United States following the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. Americans fell in love with the dulce de leche filling inside alfajores, and this sandwich cookie is gaining steady popularity. DECEMBER 18 | PANADERIA 35