Currently crushing on sweet biscuits with a puff of snow white icing sugar smattered on. Fact. I could eat about 50 of these. Fiction. But I do love how tiny they are. The bite sized nature allows them to be popped in a for a quick sugar hit. I found this recipe for Greek Almond Crescents in Anneka Manning's Mastering The Art Of Baking over Christmas.
The little biscuits are very similar to Vanillekipferl, the darling of Europe's Christmas time baking. The famous Greek version known as Kourabiedes is different in the addition of egg, citrus and spice. With an nut base (usually almond), Kourabiedes have many variations with spices used ranging from cloves to cinnamon. Although I love vanillekipferl, these delicate aromatic crescents transcend me to another level.
They are easy to bake and once you get the hang of shaping them into crescents which can be a tad tricky in the beginning, you will have a biscuit jar full of about 40 of these little delights. Two little crescents in a ziplock bag stashed away in my bag make feel like the girl scout I never was. Prepared!
KOURABIEDES - GREEK ALMOND CRESCENT COOKIES
Ingredients
- 200 g butter, softened
- 125 g 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon brandy
- 375 g 2 1/2 cups plain flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 155 g 1 cup toasted almonds, finely chopped (I used coarse almond meal)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160C (315F). Line 2 large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
- Use an electric mixer to beat the butter, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Add egg, egg yolk, brandy and cinnamon. Beat until well combined.
- Add sifted flour, almond meal and baking powder. Using a wooden spoon, mix well. Shape tablespoons of mixture into crescents and place on trays leaving 5cm gaps between them to allow for spreading.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden, swapping trays back to front after about 10 minutes to enable even cooking. Remove from oven at the end of the cooking time. Cool on trays for 5 minutes before gently transferring them to a wire rack. While still warm, dust heavily with icing sugar. When cooled completely, store in an air tight container. Will keep well for a week or longer in the fridge.
Lovely!
These are one of my favorite Greek biscuits! Perfect for tea time, as you mentioned.
Something tells me I could scoff 50 of these as well. My only problem is that I'd eat them so quickly and inhale and choke on the powdered sugar! Delicious recipe, Sneh.
HAHA I'm with John. I'd scoff them all down too and accidentally inhale on the icing sugar! A little nontraditional but I also add chopped roasted almond silvers and roll them into balls, bite-size ftw 🙂
Wonderful cookies! Yours look beautiful and very tempting.
Cheers,
Rosa
My mother would be proud Sneh! These look great!
They look so adorable, like pillows!
What a great job you did! Kourabiedes are baked in every Greek home during the Christmas holidays but we never make them any other time of the year. Now you make me wonder why not! They look stunning.
These sound beyond amazing
When I lived in Knoxville, Tennessee the Greek Orthodox church had an annual pastry event and these cookies were always included in my pre-order. (couldn't risk them being sold out of my favorites)
I'm dying to use your recipe and make these myself!
Beautiful little delights!
Is sharing required or optional?
I love the shapes! So prettyyyy!!!! Have never heard of these, but now dying to try them out 🙂 They are just so dainty and girlie... Beautiful.
Oh, fantastic! We make a very similar version in the Middle East (really popular in N Africa) called Gazelle's Horns. Yours look super - love the gentle curve you've created.
I love the moon shape of these delicious cookies they look delicious.
omg i have the exact same book, i got it for christmas and made these they were soo yummy
my mixture was very soft and, consequently, on baking they just morphed into blobs. how stiff is the mixture meant to be after the flour etc is added?
Hi Heldum, the cookie dough is supposed to be like a soft dough, pliable but firm enough to pluck little rounds and shape them. If your cookies spread and morphed into flat blobs ... there are a couple of reasons for that. It is possible that your butter was too soft/melted. You only want your butter to be softened and not melted. This is achieved by placing butter straight from the fridge in the microwave for 20-25 seconds or letting it soften on the benchtop for 1-2 hours. Overbeating or using more butter or baking at a higher temp can also possibly cause cookies to flatten. Sometimes in hot weather, it helps to place shaped cookie dough in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes or so before baking. I have made these literally 100s of times, so the recipe is solid. I hope you will try again and if you face any other problems, please write to me and I will happily troubleshoot the recipe with you. Thanks! 🙂