Kourabiedes I Recipes

KOURAMBIEDES (A GREEK CHRISTMAS COOKIE)

Steps:

• Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer for 15 minutes, until it begins to turn white. Mix in the baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Add the egg yolks, the brandy, vanilla extract, and gradually add the flour, until you have a dough that is neither too soft nor too firm (you may need to add slightly more than the amount I've written); stir in the almonds.
• Let the dough stand for an hour at room temperature, covered with a clean dish towel.
• Next, with small amounts (about 1 1/2 teaspoons of dough), shape small rounds by gently rolling the dough around between the palms of your hands.
• Arrange the round cookies on a buttered pan and flatten ever so slightly on top with your hand.
• Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes.
• Immediately upon removing the kourambiedes from the oven, sprinkle them with rose water (or orange water or ouzo. I do this by putting a small amount of the liquid in a bowl, wetting my fingertips, and shaking the droplets over the hot cookies a few times. The scented water or ouzo gives the cookies a very delicate fragrance).
• Roll the hot cookies in icing sugar to cover and let cool.
• When cool, arrange on a pretty holiday platter, sieving more icing sugar between the cookie layers to give a snowdrift effect.

KOURABIEDES I

Steps:

• Sift flour with baking powder. Set aside.
• Cream butter and gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add egg yolk, brandy and vanilla. Beat again until very light. Stir in almonds.
• Blend in flour mixture, mix to form a soft, smooth dough. Chill 30 minutes or until it can be handled easily.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C).
• Shape level tablespoonfuls of dough into crescent-shapes. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Insert whole clove into center of each. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until light...do not brown. Cool on rack. Dust generously with confectioners' sugar.

KOURABIEDES - GREEK CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper
• Add butter and 1 cup powdered sugar to bowl of electric mixer. Beat on medium speed with the paddle attachment until very light and fluffy (about 15-20 minutes).
• Add egg yolk, brandy, and vanilla. Beat until well incorporated.
• Add roasted almonds beat until mixed in.
• Sift flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Gradually add flour to butter mixture until a dough forms.
• Roll the dough into 2 tablespoon-size balls, or roll out dough and cut into crescents, stars, or whatever shape you like.
• Place cookies on prepared baking pan and bake 20-25 minutes until light golden, rotating pan half way.
• Use a sieve to evenly spread about half of the powdered sugar in a large deep baking pan. Once cookies are out of the oven, spray with blossom water. Then, carefully place each cookie in powdered sugar lined pan. Cover cookies with remaining powdered sugar.
• Cool completely and transfer to serving platter.
• Enjoy!

KOURABIEDES (GREEK BUTTER COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter in the bottom of a stand mixer on a medium-high speed for 20 minutes. Add egg and almond extract, mix until combined.
• Sift ½ cup powdered sugar, baking soda, flour and salt together in a large bowl. With the speed on low, add mixture a little bit at a time until completely incorporated. If the dough is too sticky, add a little bit more of flour.
• To Form: Roll about 2 tablespoons of dough into crescents and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silt pad. There is no need to place cookies very far apart, as they do not spread much. Bake for 15-20 minutes until very pale brown and cooked through.
• If serving cookies right away. Let them cool slightly and toss in powdered sugar. Serve within 24 hours. If you want to bake them and then serve later, store in an airtight container in the fridge (or we store them outside when it's cold). When ready to serve, pop in a warm oven until warm, then roll in powdered sugar. *These can be frozen for up to 3 months in an airtight container.

KOURABIEDES (GREEK BUTTER COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°. In a large bowl, beat butter and 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar until blended. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour and baking powder; gradually stir into butter mixture until blended (mixture will be crumbly). , Shape heaping tablespoons of dough into crescents. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool 15 minutes., Place remaining sugar in a small bowl. Toss slightly cooled cookies in sugar; return cookies to wire rack to cool completely. , Toss cookies in sugar once more before serving. Store in an airtight container, adding any remaining confectioners' sugar to cover cookies.

KOURAMBIEDES III

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, cream the butter and confectioners' sugar together. Stir in the vanilla, then the flour, then the pecans.
• Roll dough into walnut sized balls and insert a clove into each one. Place on an unprepared cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 18 minutes in the preheated oven. Roll the cookies in powdered sugar while they are still hot. Remove cloves before serving or warn guests to remove them.

KOURABIEDES: GREEK CHRISTMAS BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven at 350 degrees F (180 Celsius)
• In a large bowl whip the butter until white and fluffy. Add the ½ cup powdered sugar gradually. Continue mixing and add the egg yolk and the cognac or ouzo. In another bowl sift flour and mix well with the baking powder, add the chopped almonds. Add the flour mixture to the butter and mix. Knead for a few minutes and if needed add a bit more flour. This dough will be a bit sticky. Put the dough in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Remove from the refrigerator and make small round shapes about the size of a walnut and flatten a bit with your fingers. Another common shape is the crescent. My 3-year-old son also made some in the shape of a star using a cookie cutter.
• Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes. Be careful not to over bake otherwise these cookies will be hard instead of having a melt-in-your-mouth quality.
• Once you remove them from the oven sprinkle with some rose water or substitute.
• Fill shallow bowl with the rest of the powdered sugar (4 cups), dip each kourabie in the sugar mixture making sure they are well covered with sugar, place on a large platter. Once you have 1 layer of kourabiedes on the platter, sift powdered sugar over the kourabiedes, continue the same process with the next layer, layering until you have small pyramid.

KOURAMBIETHES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Beat butter for 10 minutes with electric mixer until very light and creamy. Beat the egg yolks and vanilla in a separate bowl until lemon-colored, 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup sugar and beat for 10 minutes. Add egg mixture to butter and add brandy and the flour, a little bit at a time, until dough is soft.
• Shape tablespoonfuls of dough into small crescents or balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake until very lightly browned, about 25 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes on the baking sheets. Sprinkle liberally with sifted confectioners' sugar while the cookies are still warm. Continue to cool to room temperature.
• Cook's Note: If the dough gets too warm and sticky while rolling the balls, re-chill it before continuing.

KOURABIEDES (GREECE): WALNUT SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Toast the walnuts until golden brown and fragrant, about 6 minutes. Let cool, then chop about half of the nuts (you should have about 1/2 cup chopped). Pulse the remaining nuts in the food processor until finely ground (about 1/4 cup ground).
• Stir the flour, baking powder, salt and nuts together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• In another medium bowl, beat the butter, sugar, egg yolk, brandy and vanilla extract together with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until the mixture gets light and fluffy, about 10 minutes.
• At low speed, stir in the nut mixture to make a crumbly dough. Cover the bowl and set dough aside at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or coat with nonstick spray.
• With a tablespoon, scoop out 1-inch pieces of dough and roll into balls between the palms of your hands. Pinch the ends of the balls to make a football shape. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies set and start to brown, about 18 minutes.
• Remove cookies from the oven and immediately sprinkle them lightly with the orange water. (If you don't have a brush, simply dip your fingers into the water and flick it over the cookies a few times.) Take care not to douse them, just enough for them to carry the scent of flowers.
• Put the confectioners' sugar in a bag, and add 5 to 6 of the warm cookies to it. Very gently toss the cookies to coat with sugar. Remove them from the bag and cool cookies on a rack. Repeat with remaining cookies. Serve.
• Busy baker's tips: Dough can be frozen for up to 2 weeks. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Baked cookies can be wrapped in plastic, then aluminum foil, for up to 2 weeks. To serve, let cookies come to room temperature before dusting with confectioners' sugar.
• Cook's Note: If you can't find orange flower water, try specialty stores or online.
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