Typical cookies served during the Greek Christmas holidays or other festivities such as weddings and baptisms.
The name has Turkish (kurabuye) or Arabic (qurabiya) origin. The word means double cooking. It seems that it originated from the Greek community present in Cappadocia and then arrived in Nea Karvali around 1920.
The use of abundant sugar, almonds and rose water makes it a true Middle Eastern sweet.
They are buttery, crumbly and sugary. A real joy!

Kourabiedes

  • Preparation time: 20 minutes + cooking time
  • Ingredients for 50 cookies
  • Difficulty: Easy recipe

  • Ingredients
  • 500 gr of all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 250 gr of almonds
  • 250 gr of butter
  • 125 gr of icing sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon of orange blossom essence
  • 1 teaspoon of rose water
  • 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
  • Icing sugar for decoration to taste
  1. Instructions
  2. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
  3. Roast the almonds in the oven for about ten minutes or until golden.  Set aside to cool. In a blender powder the almonds.
  4. In a bowl, beat the butter with the icing sugar and then add the egg yolk, vanilla, orange blossom and rose water flavorings. Add the sifted flour with the baking powder and the chopped almonds. Work the dough well until all the ingredients are well blended. Do not overwork because it is important the butter doesn’t warm up.
  5. As soon as the dough is smooth, form many balls of the same weight. Stretch them in the palms to form half-moons before placing them on the baking sheet covered with baking paper.
  6. Bake in the oven for about twenty minutes.
  7. Remove from the oven and after about ten minutes sprinkle the biscuits with plenty of icing sugar. and when they are still very hot sprinkle them with plenty of icing sugar.

Tips to ensure the success of the dish:

  • Before baking the cookies, leave them on a baking tray with baking paper in the refrigerator for at least twenty minutes. This helps to keep them from losing their shape
  • The cookies must still be hot when dusted with icing sugar so that it sticks to the pastry