Kourabiedes: Greek Christmas Butter Cookies with Almonds

Kourabiedes are the snow-white butter cookies found in every Greek home at Christmas, together with melomakarona. The butter is whipped for a long time until it is almost white, which makes them light and crumbly, and toasted almonds give them crunch. While still warm they are sprinkled with rose water and buried in icing sugar.

Serves: about 35 cookies | Prep: 30 min | Cook: 20 min plus cooling

Ingredients

• 250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 80 g icing sugar, plus about 300 g for coating
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp brandy or cognac (optional)
• 1 sachet vanillin (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 150 g blanched almonds
• About 450 g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Rose water, for sprinkling (optional)

Method

1. Toast the almonds in a dry frying pan, or for 8 to 10 minutes in the oven at 180°C, until golden. Let them cool and chop them coarsely.
2. Beat the butter with 80 g icing sugar with an electric mixer for 10 to 15 minutes until almost white and fluffy. This is what makes kourabiedes so light.
3. Beat in the egg yolk, the brandy and the vanillin.
4. Mix the flour with the baking powder and fold it in gradually with a spatula, together with the almonds, until you have a soft dough that no longer sticks to your hands. Only add more flour if you really need to.
5. Heat the oven to 175°C (155°C fan) and line two baking trays with baking paper. Shape walnut-sized balls or small crescents of about 25 g and place them on the trays.
6. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until the bottoms are lightly golden. The tops should stay pale.
7. Let them cool for 5 minutes, sprinkle them lightly with rose water and roll them generously in icing sugar. When they are completely cool, sift another thick layer of icing sugar over them.

Tips

• Use good butter, because it is the main flavour. Traditionally part of it is sheep butter.
• They keep for 2 to 3 weeks in an airtight tin, so you can bake them in early December.
• No time to bake? We also sell ready-made kourabiedes from Ioakimidis.

Products from Bakaliko

• Giotis - All Purpose Flour 1 kg
• Giotis - Baking Powder 60 g
• Kagia - Vanillin 1.5 g
• Ioakimidis - Kourabiedes with Whole Almonds 470 g

More Greek recipes

• Greek Christmas recipes: a complete Greek Christmas dinner
• Melomakarona: Greek Christmas honey cookies
• Vasilopita: Greek New Year’s cake

Photo: Christin568, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons.