Kourabiedes

If you’ve never heard of or had Kourabiedes before, just know that every Greek household will have them at Christmas. They’re buttery shortbread biscuits covered in icing sugar and they’re so damn delicious!

Ingredients

300ml corn or sunflower oil

150g melted unsalted butter 

100g icing sugar, sieved

1 egg yolk

1-2 tbsp brandy

1 vanilla pod scraped OR 2 sachets of vanilla powder (10g)

900g plain flour

100g crushed almonds (I used almond flakes, and crushed them) 

Extra icing sugar to coat the biscuits once they’re baked 

1 hour | Yields around 32 biscuits

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Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius fan. Prepare two baking trays lined with parchment paper. 

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the oil, melted butter, icing sugar, egg yolk, brandy and vanilla. 

3. Add the flour and crushed almonds ans stir through using a spatula to homogenise the ingredients to form a dough. 

4. Take a heaped tablespoon of the dough and mould into a shape of your choice (an oval, circle or crescent moon, or use a cookie cutter). Repeat this with the rest of the dough and place the cookies on the baking trays, leaving enough room between each one.

5. Bake for 20-22 minutes until very lightly golden on top.

6. Leave to cool for 10 minutes on a wired cooling rack, then place them on a plate to cover in sieved icing sugar. 

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Watch how to make it