KOURABIEDES
Traditional Greek Christmas cookies coated with powdered sugar
This is one of the two kinds of confection that are traditionally
consumed in large quantities in Greece during the holiday season (the other is
melomacarona). As a quick lesson in greek, "kourabiedes" (pronounced
"kou-ra-bi-ETH-es", is the plural of the word "kourabies" (kou-ra-bi-ES).
Now all you need to enjoy them is the recipe. I got this one from a
Greek cookbook and translated it into English.
Ingredients
(makes about 30 pieces)
- 2 cups unsalted butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 Tbsp brandy
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 cups flour
- 1/2 cup blanched almonds,
chopped
- 1 lb powdered sugar
(one package)
Procedure
-
Beat the butter with the sugar until it becomes fluffy.
-
Add the egg yolks one by one, beating continuously.
-
Add the brandy and vanilla.
-
Blend in the almonds and the flour, a cup at a time. Use enough flour to get a
firm dough (it may take a bit more or less than the amount mentioned in the
ingredients list). Use your hands to do the mixing, as an electric mixer
will be useless after the first two or three cups of flour have been added.
-
Place the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
-
Shape the dough into balls, about
one inch
in diameter, flatten them, and place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at
for 20 minutes.
-
Remove from the oven. Roll each cookie, while it is still hot, in the powdered
sugar, and put it back on the cookie sheet. Repeat this step once more, so that
you get a thicker coating.
-
Place the coated cookies on a platter, liberally sprinkling each layer and the
bottom of the platter with powdered sugar. When you are done, there shouldn't
be any sugar left.
-
Let them cool, and they are ready to eat!
Notes
The cookbook suggests the following variations: using ouzo or scotch instead
of brandy, and almond extract instead of vanilla extract, but I have not
tried any of them. Also, putting granulated instead of powdered sugar in
the dough didn't seem to affect the recipe!there's so much sugar in it,
that you couldn't tell the difference anyway.
The cookbook also suggested using twice
the amount of sugar for coating. This is obviously too much, but it should
make you realize that you must really be liberal with the sugar!
Rating
Difficulty:
Easy to moderate.
Time:
30 minutes preparation, one hour refrigeration, 20 minutes baking.
Precision:
approximate measurement OK.
Contributor
Kriton Kyrimis
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
princeton!kyrimis kyrimis@princeton.edu
Recipe last modified: 13 Dec 87
Original header
Path: decwrl!recipes
From: kyrimis@Princeton.EDU (Kriton Kyrimis)
Newsgroups: alt.gourmand
Subject: RECIPE: Kourabiedes (Greek Christmas cookies)
Message-ID: <12240@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: 14 Dec 87 19:57:59 GMT
Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM
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Organization: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
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