Kourabiedes — Greek almond butter cookies in icing sugar

i. Origin & history

The name comes from the Turkish kurabiye, a word used across the former Ottoman world for butter-rich shortbread biscuits. The family is wide: Turkish kurabiye, Levantine ghraybeh, Balkan kurabije and Iranian qurabiyeh are all butter-and-flour cookies that crumble at a touch, and the word itself is often traced further back to Arabic or Persian. Where it all began is impossible to pin down, but by the nineteenth century these biscuits were made from Persia to the Balkans.

The Greek version took on its own character: more butter, toasted almonds, a splash of brandy or ouzo, a sprinkle of rosewater or orange-blossom water and a deep coat of icing sugar. In Greece the pure white colour is part of the meaning — kourabiedes are celebration biscuits, made for Christmas and New Year in large batches and piled into pyramids, and offered at weddings and baptisms, where their whiteness suits the occasion.

Some towns are famous for them. Nea Karvali, near Kavala in northern Greece, was settled after 1923 by Greek refugees from Cappadocia in Asia Minor, who brought their own kourabiedes recipe; the town's kourabiedes are now sold all over Greece. Many Greek families' recipes similarly carry memories of Asia Minor, Constantinople or the islands, where the biscuit came in rounds, crescents or small moulded shapes.

The Greek-American and Greek-Australian communities brought kourabiedes abroad, where they sit alongside the Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes and Viennese crescents — sugar-dusted nut butter cookies that look strikingly similar but grew up separately.

ii. Why the butter is whipped for so long

The texture of a good kourabies — light and crumbly, almost dissolving rather than crunchy — comes mostly from how the butter is treated. Traditional recipes beat the butter for an unusually long time, often 15 to 20 minutes, until it is almost white and fluffy. That whipping beats in a great deal of air and breaks up the butter's fat crystals, so the dough bakes into a light, open, short crumb rather than a dense biscuit.

The ratio is also high in fat. With nearly as much butter as flour, there is not enough water for gluten to develop much, which is why the biscuits are 'short' and fragile. Many Greek cooks use a mixture of cow's butter and a traditional sheep's or goat's butter, or a clarified butter, for a richer, slightly tangy flavour. Clarified butter makes an even shorter biscuit because it contains no water at all.

The almonds are toasted first, which deepens their flavour and keeps them crunchy inside the soft dough. A spoon of brandy or ouzo adds aroma; a little baking powder adds lightness. The cookies are baked at a moderate temperature only until set and barely tinted at the base — browned kourabiedes taste of toasted butter instead of fresh butter and lose their snowy look.

Finally the sugar: the cookies are sprinkled with flower water while still warm and then rolled or buried in icing sugar. The slight moisture helps a first layer of sugar to stick and form a thin, melting crust, and a second, thicker coat once they are cool gives the snowball look.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 30 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 150 g blanched almonds
• 250 g unsalted butter, soft
• 60 g icing sugar (dough)
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp brandy or ouzo
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 350 g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 tbsp rosewater or orange-blossom water
• 300 g icing sugar, for coating

Use good, fresh unsalted butter; it is most of the flavour. For a more traditional taste, replace a third with clarified or sheep's butter. Blanched almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped, give the classic crunch; skin-on almonds are also used. Brandy is traditional in most of Greece and ouzo gives an anise note; both can be replaced with orange juice. Rosewater is sprinkled in the islands and Asia Minor tradition; orange-blossom water is equally common. Sift the icing sugar for a smooth white coat.

iv. Method

1. Toast the almonds in a dry pan or at 170°C (150°C fan, 340°F) for 8–10 minutes until pale golden and fragrant. Cool and chop coarsely.
2. Beat the butter with an electric mixer for 10 minutes, then add the 60 g icing sugar and beat for 5–10 minutes more, until almost white, light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg yolk, brandy and vanilla. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over and mix on low speed, or by hand, just until a soft dough forms. Stir in the almonds.
4. Heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan, 340°F) and line two trays. Shape the dough into walnut-sized balls (about 25 g), or roll into crescents, and place 3 cm apart.
5. Bake for 18–20 minutes until set and only just tinged golden on the base; the tops should stay pale.
6. Leave on the trays for 5 minutes, then sprinkle each warm cookie lightly with rosewater.
7. Sift a thick layer of icing sugar onto a large tray, lay the warm cookies on it and sift more sugar thickly over the top. Leave until completely cool, then sift over another heavy layer.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Whip the butter longer than you think. Fifteen minutes is normal. Under-whipped butter gives dense, hard cookies instead of melting ones.
• Don't overwork the flour. Mix just until combined; kneading develops gluten and makes them tough.
• Toast the almonds. Raw almonds taste flat and turn soft in the dough.
• Bake them pale. Kourabiedes should only colour on the base. Brown tops mean they are overbaked and will taste dry.
• Handle them warm, but gently. They are fragile when hot; use a spatula to move them onto the sugar.
• Coat twice. One layer while warm, another once cool, gives the thick white finish that stays put.

vi. Variations

Kourabiedes with clove press a whole clove into the top of each cookie, a common old-fashioned decoration. Pistachio kourabiedes from Aegina use the island's pistachios instead of almonds. Cypriot kourabiedes often use more rosewater and sometimes semolina. Nea Karvali kourabiedes are richer, with more butter and almonds. Some families add mastic or a little orange zest.

Related biscuits across the region include the Levantine semolina cookies maamoul and the Spanish crumbly mantecados. For the other Greek Christmas biscuit, see honey-soaked melomakarona.

vii. Serving & storage

Serve kourabiedes on a platter piled high and dusted again with icing sugar, with Greek coffee, tea or a small glass of liqueur. At Christmas they are offered to every visitor, and they are traditionally given in boxes as gifts. Eat them carefully — the sugar goes everywhere, which is part of the tradition.

They keep very well: up to 3 weeks in an airtight tin at cool room temperature, layered with baking paper and extra icing sugar. Do not refrigerate them; the sugar absorbs moisture and turns sticky. They can be frozen without the final coat of sugar for up to 3 months; thaw and dust before serving.

ix. More from Middle Eastern

• Melomakarona — Greek honey cookies
• Galaktoboureko — custard in filo
• Kataifi — shredded-pastry rolls
• Maamoul — filled semolina cookies
• Mantecados — Spanish crumbly Christmas cookies
• Turkish Delight — rose lokum