Grandma Sylvias Greek Kourabiedes Cookies Recipes

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.

GRANDMA SYLVIA'S GREEK KOURABIEDES COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Toast walnuts golden brown. Grind half of the nuts and chop small the other half. (now days you can use a food processor for this). Place in large bowl.
• 2. Add the flour, salt, and baking powder in bowl with the nuts. Set aside.
• 3. In separate bowl: beat the egg yolk,honey, orange juice, orange zest and brandy. Mix well. Add butter and powdered sugar and beat until creamy and fluffy (8 - 12 minutes) on high speed with mixer.
• 4. On medium - low speed: slowly add the flour/nut mixture to the egg/juice mixture. This will make a crumbly dough. Set this aside (covered), for 1 hour.
• 5. Pinch a piece of dough the size of a teaspoon. Roll between palms into a ball, football shape, "S" shape or crescent shape, your choice.
• 6. Place the cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes (depending on your oven) until the bottoms are a light golden brown and cookies are set.
• 7. Remove cookies to a wax paper lined surface that has been sprinkled with sifted powdered sugar. Immediately sift powdered sugar over the cookies (generously). Repeat until all cookies are done. Cool completely before storing.
• 8. Store in airtight container for a week (now days we use zipper bags). These can also be frozen for months, but they need to be completely thawed and re-sprinkled with powdered sugar to "refresh" them.

GREEK KOURABIEDES 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.

KOURABIEDES (GREEK COOKIES)

Steps:

• Melt butter over medium heat, bring to a boil and stir occasionally.
• Remove and allow to stand until foam forms on top.
• Remove foam with spoon and gently pour into a bowl leaving sediment in pot.
• Place bowl in refrigerator until butter is firm, but not hard.
• then beat until very light and creamy add 1 cup sugar, egg yolk and anisette.
• Continue to beat, add flour 1 cup at a time working last cup by hand.
• Dough should be soft but not sticky if needed add the extra flour a little at a time.
• Form into 1" balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350F degrees.
• Cookies will be set but not brown.
• Sift half of the powdered sugar on a large sheet of waxed paper.
• Place warm cookie on sugar and sift rest of powdered sugar on top and sides.
• Cool thoroughly before serving.