Kourabiethes Recipe

Kourabiethes are the closest thing you’ll get to Greek shortbread.  They’re amazing. They taste buttery and silky and melt in your mouth.  They’re made for any celebration. Greek’s love to make them for Easter, Christmas, or for a baptism or wedding.  Basically, if you have something to celebrate it’s time to make these yummy treats.  They’re delicious with a hot espresso after dinner and I’ve also served them with vanilla ice cream and some berries on the side for a savory dessert. They’re wonderful and super, super, easy.  

NOTE: These ‘powdered sugar cookies’ are made traditionally with a clove placed in the center. I hated this tradition and so did my Mom. Make one false move and bite into the clove and the pungent flavor is awful. So Mom, did what every self-respecting Greek woman does, she made them her way.  These are AMAZING and I get compliments on them every time I serve them.  You can thank my Mom for having the guts to ditch the clove and you’ll love these and so will your family and friends.  

Kourabiethes

1 lb butter

¾ cup powdered sugar + additional powdered sugar for sifting 

1 egg yolk 

2 tsp vanilla

1 oz cognac or brandy

5-6 cups cake flour (don’t use all-purpose; make sure you use cake flour) 

Melt the butter and then refrigerate until it's a soft consistency.  Alternatively, leave the butter out to room temperature so it’s very very soft.   Beat with an electric hand mixer and whip until butter is light and fluffy.

 Add the powdered sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, and cognac beating thorough after each addition.  

 Add flour a cup at a time and mix in with a large spoon until each cup is blended in and a soft dough is formed that can be handled easily.  Take a teaspoon at a time and roll into a small ball. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes and they get a smidge of color on them. You’ll smell them as the signal they are done more than they’ll look cooked. If anything they’ll get slightly golden but barely.  

Upon removal from the oven, sift additional powdered sugar over the cookies until covered.  Put them into pastry cups and place them on a tray to cool.  Once cool. Cover with wax paper until you serve them.  If the cookies are too hot the powder will slightly yellow.  Give them a few minutes before applying the powder.  

Have a wonderful celebration! 

NOTE:  I get lazy spooning little balls onto the cookie sheets so I often take the dough and roll it into a log on wax paper using the wax paper to help form the log.  I make a log about 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 inches in diameter and about 10 inches long. I refrigerate the dough and then slice it into cookies that are round and about 1/3’’ high.  The dough will make two or three logs and often I will wrap the dough in the wax paper, twist the ends, and put it in a freezer bag to store for another occasion.  I’ll use one log for that day’s entertaining and then keep the other batch frozen so I have it for another time.  The dough stores well.  Slicing the cookies from a log and placing them on the cookie sheet is also a lot faster than making each one at a time.