Have you ever lost a recipe? Found that you'll go to any lengths to locate it? This is how I feel about a recipe I used to have for kourambiethes, or Greek almond shortbread cookies. It was the perfect recipe really, but alas it's gone now (I sold the cookbook and I don't remember its name), so this became the perfect excuse for me to experiment a little.
As they came out so well, I thought I'd share this recipe with everybody. I did use a kourambiethes recipe as a start, but tweaked it somewhat to conform to my own tastes -- predictably this has meant less sweetness/sugar (although it still has a lot), less butter, and more accent flavors... in this case ouzo and rose water.
1. Preheat oven to 350F (330F for convection ovens). Beat/whip one stick of butter in an electric mixer until fluffy.
2. While the butter is being whipped in the mixer, dry roast a generous half cup of slivered almonds in a pan until they come fragrant. Remove from heat. Place the toasted almond slivers into a food processor and process until they are nearly a flour. (Stop just before you reach flour consistency as the heat will cause the oils in the almond 'flour' to coalesce, which you want to avoid. A course flour is the proper point at which to to stop blending.) Place almond flour in a bowl.
3. Add 1/4 cup sugar to whipped butter and continue to mix. Add remaining ingredients: 2 egg whites (or 4 tsps of dry egg white + 1/4 cup water), 1 tsp baking powder, 3 tsp ouzo, 2 tsp rose water, dash of vanila extract, 2 cups flour, and almond 'flour.'
4. The result should be just thick enough to handle with your hands after dashing a large spoonful of the mixture with a little flour. Form into a rough ball and flatten just slightly. (Add a little flour or water if necessary to achieve desired consistency.) Add cookies to oiled/buttered cookie sheet. The mixture should make about 12 medium sized cookies.
5. Bake for 15 mins or until the cookies begin forming a slightly golden exterior. After removing from oven, sprinkle with a little (okay, a lot of) powdered sugar.
The resulting cookies should be slightly crispy on the exterior but light and soft on the interior. I love these cookies with their toasted, almondy taste and light shortbread texture. Their taste is complemented and subtlely transformed by the use of ouzo and rose water. They are a perfect tea or coffee cookie.
P.S. If any Greeks are reading this, how do I write "kourambiethes" in Greek?
Comments
My mum makes these occasionally and im not sure how authentic hers are bc she's chinese. But these ones look SOOO BBIGGG! Good on u for makin your own almond meal, my mum buys hers bc its too much trouble. I love to know how they taste with ouzo...is it bitter at all?
Have u heard of this interesting greek spirit- its called 'Nothing' (apparently tastes like a combination of many diff flavours). Its a cool name, bc usually when u go to a Greek household and they ask u what u want to have/drink, a Greek person usually says 'Nothing' ;)
Posted by: darkhorse | April 1, 2006 04:44 AM
Dark: I got the idea to dry roast the almonds first from Indian cuisine, with its frequent dry roasting of spices. I think it turned out pretty well! Yeah, I can definitely see a Chinese connection with these cookies... not the ouzo part, of course, but the almond meal and the subdued sweetness.
No, the ouzo was not bitter in the slightest. The alcohol does not come through... only the subtle licorice taste which is barely perceptible.
I've never heard of Nothing but it sounds like something I would appreciate very much. I love the name!
Posted by: Evil Jonny | April 1, 2006 08:49 AM
κουραμπιέδες :-)
Posted by: Maria | July 3, 2007 06:34 PM