Kourabiedes

* Exported from MasterCook *

KOURABIEDES

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 30 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Cookies Greek

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 c Butter, unsalted
1 c Sugar, powdered
3 Egg yolks
3 tb Brandy
2 ts Vanilla extract
6 c Flour
1/2 c Almonds (blanched),
-chopped
1 lb Sugar, powdered
-(one package)

Beat the butter with the sugar until it becomes
fluffy. Add the egg yolks one by one, beating
continuously. Add the brandy and vanilla.

Blend in the almonds and the flour, a cup at a time.
Use enough flour to get a firm dough (it may take a
bit more or less than the amount mentioned in the
ingredients list). Use your hands to do the mixing, as
an electric mixer will be useless after the first two
or three cups of flour have been added. Place the
dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Shape the dough into balls, about one inch in
diameter, flatten them and place on greased cookie
sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Roll each cookie (while it is
still hot) in the powdered sugar and put it back on
the cookie sheet. Repeat this step once more, so that
you get a thicker coating.

Place the coated cookies on a platter, liberally
sprinkling each layer and the bottom of the platter
with powdered sugar. When you are done, there
shouldn't be any sugar left. Let them cool and they
are ready to eat!

NOTES:

* Traditional Greek Christmas cookies coated with
powdered sugar -- This is one of the two kinds of
confection that are traditionally consumed in large
quantities in Greece during the holiday season (the
other is melomacarona). As a quick lesson in greek,
"kourabiedes" (pronounced "kou-ra-bi-ETH-es", is the
plural of the word "kourabies" (kou-ra-bi-ES). Now all
you need to enjoy them is the recipe. I got this one
from a Greek cookbook and translated it into English.

* The cookbook suggests the following variations:
using ouzo or scotch instead of brandy, and almond
extract instead of vanilla extract, but I have not
tried any of them. Also, putting granulated instead of
powdered sugar in the dough didn't seem to affect the
recipe, there's so much sugar in it, that you couldn't
tell the difference anyway.

* The cookbook also suggested using twice the amount
of sugar for coating. This is obviously too much, but
it should make you realize that you must really be
liberal with the sugar!

: Difficulty: Easy to moderate.
: Time: 30 minutes preparation, one hour
refrigeration, 20 minutes baking. : Precision:
approximate measurement OK.

: Kriton Kyrimis
: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
: princeton!kyrimis kyrimis@princeton.edu

: Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust



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