“Kourabiedes” 2012

Greek Christmas cookies #2: “Kourabiedes”

When it rains, it pours! I hadn’t been posting for quite some time and taking it all out now. It’s so relaxing to share recipes with you. Sure sign I am into the holiday spirit. Here’s my “kourabiedes” recipe for 2012. Once again, I trusted tastfull.gr for this year’s “kourabiedes”. Exactly the same recipe I did in 2009. Never fails me! I’m lucky to have “rodonero” (rose water) in my kitchen cabinets. I used it both in the dough and, also, on the cooked biscuits before dusting them with confectioner’s sugar. It’s a subtle, yet discernible taste. I like to shape them with cookie cutters and also to make them “short”. Since I don’t use any nuts to give the a crunch, the thicker version can be overwhelming in the mouth. This year I cut two shapes, rounds and stars. Hope you enjoy them!

Recipe

Ingredients

600 grams butter at room temperature
100 grams confectioner’s sugar
2 egg yolks
200 grams cooked almonds or pistachios or walnuts (I don’t use any)
50 ml brandy or masticha liquor or rum or rose water
1 kilo all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
vanilla extract or lemon zest or orange zest
more confectioner’s sugar to sprinkle on top

How to make: Beat the butter with the confectioner’s sugar first at moderate and then at high speed for about 20 minutes. Add the yolks one at a time and beat some more. Turn speed to lowest, switch whisk tool to bread tool, switch to lowest speed and add the flour gradually. Add the nuts too if you’re using them. Then add cognac and beat a bit longer at low speed. Put the dough on a flat surface and start shaping kourampiedes one at a time. I got inspired by Vicky and used a cookie cutter, as you can see in the photo. Don’t make them too tall, approx. 1.5 cm. Arrange the kourabiedes biscuits on a baking pan lined with parchment paper and bake in pre-heated oven at 170 C or 340 F for about 25-30 minutes. Let them cool off completely. Brush them with some liquor (I used “rodonero” this time) and sprinkle confectioner’s sugar generously.

Notes and tips: The consistency of the dough is important. It must be soft. If it becomes too hard try softening it by adding more liquids, rose water or some liquor if you only need a little bit of liquid. If it’s too soft, such that you cannot shape it, add more flour but do so very gradually.