Greek butter cookies - Kourabiedes

 

Kourabiedes

We all have that special cookie we make at Christmas, well mine is Kourabiedes Greek Cookies, but I tweak them and add extra Almond flavoring, because I love almond cookies. As a gourmet cooking, I start making my holiday cookings in November and storm them in airtight containers until I’m ready to hand them out or mail them to loved ones. I’ve considered this my holiday tradition since the early 1980s when I lived in Virginia and traveled back to New York for the holidays each year. 

When I first started making holiday cookies, I only made a couple of different kinds and then I was given the recipe for the Kourabiedes or Greek Butter Cookies and things elevated from there. While they aren’t considered fancy, they can be decorated to look fancy. They remind some of shortbread cookies, but they tend to crumble quicker than shortbread cookies.  My version has lots of almond flavoring, a pinch of salt, and is coated in plenty of powdered sugar.

Ingredients

1 lb unsalted butter, room temperature

1 large egg

1 Tbsp Almond extract

1/2 Cup powdered sugar, plus another cup for coating

1/8 tsp baking soda

5 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

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.

Elizabeth Kilbride is a Writer and Editor with forty years of experience in writing, with 12 of those years in the online content sphere. Author of 5 books and a Graduate with an Associate of Arts degree in Business Management, a bachelor’s in mass communication and cyber Analysis, a master’s in criminology with emphasis on Cybercrime and Identity Theft and is currently studying for her Ph.D. degree in Criminology. Her work portfolio includes coverage of politics, current affairs, elections, history, and true crime. Elizabeth is also a gourmet cook, life coach, and avid artist in her spare time, proficient in watercolor, acrylic, oil, pen and ink, gouache, and pastels. As a political operative who has worked on over 300 campaigns during her career, Elizabeth has turned many life events into books and movie scripts while using history to weave interesting storylines. She also runs 7 blogs ranging from art to life coaching, food, writing, Gardening, and opinion or history pieces each week.

Greek Cooking, Greek, Mediterranean, Kilbride, Potpourri of Frugality, Homemade, Do it yourself