Best 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 (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.

KOURAMBIETHES (GREEK BUTTER COOKIES)

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Beat together butter and the 4 Tablespoons of powdered sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
• Beat in egg. Add whiskey, vanilla and almond extract. Beat well. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add to mixture; stir in, do not beat. Dough should be soft but not sticky.
• Pinch off one inch balls of dough and shape into crescents. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until bottom is lightly browned.
• Place cookies on wire rack and let cool for about 5 to 6 minutes. Roll in additional powdered sugar. This easy recipe makes 3 dozen cookies.

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

Steps:

• Mix sugar, Crisco & butter until fluffy. Add eggs & beat well. Mix baking soda with lemon juice in a glass (it will fizz) & pour into mixture.
• Add ouzo & mix. Add baking powder to flour & add flour gradually to the mixture. Mix in almonds.
• Use cookie cutters or shape into circles & crescents.
• Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes until light brown.
• Remove & cool. Sprinkle with powder sugar by layering bottom of pan with sifted powdered sugar. Place cookies in pan & sift more sugar on top.

KOURAMBIETHES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350. Spread almonds in single layer on baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until lightly toasted, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven; cool, the chop coarsely. Beat butter in large bowl of electric mixer on meduim -high speed until very light and fluffy, 5 minutes. Add 3 T of confectioners sugar;continue beating 3 minutes. Add egg yolks, liquor and vanilla; beat until smooth. Beat in almonds, flour and baking powder until mixed well. (If doug is too soft to handle, add additional flour. Shape scant tablesp full of tough between palms into round balls or crescents. Bake on ungreased baking sheets until set and very pale golden in color; 15 minutes. Remove cookies to cooling rack. Place remaining confectioner sugar into sifter. While cookies are still hot, sift confectioners sugar over tops. Repeat twice at 20 minute intervals

KOURAMBIETHES

Steps:

• Cream butter & icing sugar until light.
• Add egg yolk and brandy, mixing well.
• Fold in almonds, flour, baking powder & cloves.
• Break off small pieces of dough & shape into 'S' shapes or crescents.
• Bake at 180 deg C for +/- 20 min until lightly golden.
• Let them cool for 10 min, then dust with some icing sugar.
• Store in container & dust with rest of icing sugar.
• Tip: Seal & store for 2 days (if you can resist!) as this improves the flavour.

OUZO & ROSE WATER KOURAMBIETHES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F (330F for convection ovens). Beat/whip one stick of butter in an electric mixer until fluffy.
• While the butter is being whipped in the mixer, dry roast a generous half cup of slivered almonds in a pan until they come fragrant. Remove from heat. Place the toasted almond slivers into a food processor and process until they are nearly a flour. (Stop just before you reach flour consistency as the heat will cause the oils in the almond 'flour' to coalesce, which you want to avoid. A course flour is the proper point at which to to stop blending.) Place almond flour in a bowl.
• Add 1/4 cup sugar to whipped butter and continue to mix. Add remaining ingredients: 2 egg whites (or 4 tsps of dry egg white + 1/4 cup water), 1 tsp baking powder, 3 tsp ouzo, 3 tsp rose water, dash of vanila extract, 2 cups flour, and almond 'flour.'.
• The result should be just thick enough to handle with your hands after dashing a large spoonful of the mixture with a little flour. Form into a rough ball and flatten just slightly. (If the consistency isn't right, go back and add a little flour or water to the cookie dough if necessary to achieve desired consistency.) Repeat with each cookie, adding cookies to oiled/buttered cookie sheet. The mixture should make about 12 medium to large sized cookies.
• Bake for 15 mins or until the cookies begin forming a slightly golden exterior. After removing from oven, sprinkle with a little (okay, a lot of) powdered sugar.