Kourambiethes Recipes

KOURAMBIETHES

Steps:

• Place almonds in an ungreased 9-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350° until lightly browned, 5-10 minutes, stirring several times. When cool, process in a food processor until finely chopped; set aside. , In a large bowl, cream butter and 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, whiskey or juice and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder and reserved almonds; gradually beat into creamed mixture., Shape tablespoonfuls of dough into 3-in. logs. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets; shape into crescents. Bake at 350° until set and bottoms are lightly browned, 14-18 minutes. , Carefully roll warm cookies in remaining confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire racks. Sprinkle with additional confectioners' sugar.

KOURAMBIETHES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and brandy.
• Gradually only add enough flour to make a soft dough. Chill.
• Shape dough into crescents or 1 1/2 inch balls. (If using cloves, place one in each cookie before baking.)
• Place on ungreased sheets. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. They won't be brown.
• Cool for 4 to 5 minutes and then sift powdered sugar over them.

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.
• Copyright (c) 2007 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved

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.

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.

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.

KOURAMBIETHES (GREEK ALMOND SHORTBREADS)

Steps:

• Gently melt the butter over low heat in a small heavy-based saucepan; without stirring or shaking the pan. Carefully pour the clear butter into another container, leaving the white sediment in the pan to be discarded. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 325 and line two baking trays with parchment paper.
• Grind the slivered almonds to a medium fine meal.
• In a bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together.
• Using an electric mixer, beat the chilled butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar and combine well. Add the egg yolk, vanilla, and ouzo and beat until just combined. Fold in the flour, ground almonds and the almond meal.
• Shape heaped tablespoons of mixture into crescents, place on the baking trays and bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly colored.
• Remove from the oven and dust liberally with icing sugar. Leave to cool on the trays for 10 minutes.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper and dust the paper with icing sugar. Lift the warm biscuits onto this and dust again with the icicng sugar. When the biscuits are cool, dust them once again with the icing sugar before storing them in an airtight container.

KOURAMBIATHES (GREEK COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease baking sheets.
• In a medium bowl, cream the butter, egg yolk and anise extract until light. Stir in the 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and flour until blended.
• Shape dough into crescents and place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in preheated oven just until bottoms and edges begin to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Dust heavily with confectioners' sugar before they are completely cool.

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.