Greek traditional almond shortbread cookies (Kourabiedes)

Greek traditional almond shortbread cookies (Kourabiedes)
3.7/5 rating (6 votes)

Ingredients

  • Ingredients for 50-60 Kourabiedes

  • almonds: 1/2 kg, blanched and chopped
  • orange: 1 small
  • butter: 1/2 kg fresh (goat) at room temperature
  • oil: 1/4 cup of tea
  • caster sugar: 4 1/2 cups of tea
  • egg yolks: 2
  • Cognac: 2 tbsp
  • baking soda: 1/2 teaspoon
  • flour for all purpose: 1kg
  • rose water for sprinkling

Directions

  1. Lightly roast the almonds in a nonstick pan. Scrape the orange along a grater, from top to bottom, to get their zest and after that squeeze them to get their juice.

  2. Using a mixer at high speed, you mix in a large pot the butter with the olive oil and 1/2 cup of caster sugar for 20 minutes or so, until the mixture becomes white and fluffy.

  3. Add in the mixture the egg yolks, brandy, the baking soda dissolved in orange juice and the orange zest. Continue mixing for 5 more minutes. Add the flour and knead until you have a smooth and relatively firm dough. Add the almonds in the mixture and knead again.

  4. Shape round Kourabiedes and lightly press them. If you want, you can give them Christmas shapes using a cookie cutter.

  5. Preheat the oven and cover an iron plate with greaseproof paper. Place the buns on the iron plate and bake them at 200 ° C for 15' to 20' minutes. (Repeat the cooking process until all the ingredients are consumed).

  6. Sprinkle the Kourabiedes with rosewater and before they cool down, sprinkle them with adequate caster sugar (about 4 cups of sifted sugar).