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Kourabiedes
Kourabiedes are crumbly, buttery sweet shortbread biscuits heavily topped with powdered sugar. Along with melomakarona, they are the most popular Greek Christmas treats. They’re served on other occasions, too, like Easter, name days and baptisms. Their origins are seemingly from Iran (Persia), which is possibly the reason why they’re formed into crescent shapes, along with the familiar round and egg shapes. Traditionally made with crushed almonds, my mom bakes kourabiedes without them due to my recent tree nut allergy, and I believe her recipe is all the better for it. As kids, we called them “cocaine cookies” because we would inhale these biscuits (and for their obvious appearance). Shows you where our minds were....
YIELDS
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 2 x 454 grams softened unsalted butter
- 2 eggs (yolks only)
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 cup Ouzo
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons vanilla powder
- 4 tablespoons powdered sugar (confectioners’ sugar)
- 8 cups all-purpose flour
Topping:
- Powdered sugar (confectioners’ sugar)
Directions
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer for about 10-15 minutes until it’s light and fluffy. TIP: Do not toss out the butter wrappers; you’ll use them later to grease the cookie baking sheets. Combine the egg yolks, lemon juice and Ouzo; beat for one minute. Finally, add in the baking powder, baking soda, vanilla powder and powdered sugar. Blend the batter with the hand mixer for five minutes.
- In another mixing bowl, add in the flour, then pour in the batter. Mix/knead manually by hand—about 20 minutes. Cover the biscuit dough with a moistened tea towel.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) on the convection setting.
- Roll out the dough into round, long or crescent shapes. Place onto greased baking trays, and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until lightly golden.
- Remove the biscuits from the oven, place them on a sizeable, clean surface to cool for one hour. Sift powdered sugar over top until well-covered.
- Store the kourabiedes in an airtight container. Serve with coffee, or tea.
BONUS: For the traditional recipe, add a 1/2 cup crushed almonds or other nuts.
