Kourabiedes EN

 

Kourabiedes are one of the Greek Christmas sweets along with melomakarona and diples, and my mom's are the crunchiest and most aromatic!

The almonds are crunchy and the vanilla aroma is discreet.

A very important step for its success is to beat correctly the butter. It should be beaten for 15 minutes and be fluffy like whipped cream.

Another important step is to properly mix the flour with the butter. It must be done carefully to keep the dough fluffy.

I prefer to cut the almonds by hand to make large chunks.

I use almonds with or without skin. I cook them with some butter and they become fragrant.

With this recipe we will obtain about 140 small kourabiedes.

Ingredients:

750g good quality butter at room temperature

950gr approximately all-purpose flour 

3 tablespoons icing sugar

2-3 sachets of vanilla sugar

a pinch of salt

300g almonds cut in large pieces

2 tablespoons butter

800g icing sugar

Melt the two tablespoons of butter in a large skillet and fry the almonds over medium heat very carefully. We stir constantly so that they do not burn. We want them to take on some color. Place the almonds on kitchen paper and let them cool completely before starting with the dough.

Dough

Beat the butter with 3 tablespoons icing sugar, vanilla sugar and salt at high speed in the mixer for 15' until the mixture is fluffy like whipped cream.

Sift the flour into a bowl.

Outside of the mixer, mix the flour very carefully, adding it in 4 portions. First mix using a silicone spatula and then by hand so that the flour is simply moistened by the butter. Don't press the dough, mix with upward movements.

We will need approximately 950gr of flour and the dough will be ready when won't be able to feel the butter. Instead we will feel a light dough.

Add the almonds and mix lightly so that they are distributed throughout the dough.

Form 15g balls without pressing the dough too much. In the center we poke a small dent with our finger.

Place the balls on a pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 20' or until lightly browned.

Take the cookies out of the oven and let them cool.

Spread a thick layer of icing sugar on a large tray with the help of a strainer, place the cold cookies on top and cover them with plenty of icing sugar (it is important to place all the cookies on the icing sugar).

The kourabiedes will be ready after at least 5 hours of cooling.