Butter Tea Cookies (Kourambiedes )

I made my mom's kourabiethes recipe today.  I have made these cookies for the past 30 plus years and everyone loves them.  However, I never made them with almonds.  Today, I made half with almond and half without the almonds and conducted a neighborhood taste test.  

Chopping them up very finely in the Cuisinart was so easy.

Drum Roll.....  The winner was the cookie with the almonds.  

Historically, kourambiedes were made as a Christmas cookie and now are made year round for  special occasions, such as, Easter, weddings or baptisms.  

Butter Tea Cookies 

(Kourambiedes)

Bake: 15 - 20 min

Prep: 20 min

Makes: 4 dozen

Traditionally, this Greek Christmas cookie was made with a clove in the center signifying the gifts of the three wise men. Today, it is enjoyed year-round especially when celebrating special occasions. (note: for safety reasons, the clove is not included today).

 

1-pound unsalted butter	1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar	2 tablespoon Metaxa or brandy
2 egg yolks	1 cup almonds, finely chopped
4 -5 cups flour	1-pound powdered sugar for covering cookies

 

Beat softened butter with electric beater until butter turns white (about 10 minutes). Add ½ cup granulated sugar and 2 egg yolks to beaten butter and thoroughly mix with electric beater. Sift 4 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder into butter mixture and thoroughly mix with wooden spoon (note: if dough feels too sticky, may add more flour to desired texture). Sprinkle Metaxa or brandy of choice into mixture and add almonds while mixing thoroughly. Make into balls the size of your palm, indent center with thumb and place cookie on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes at 350⁰F until lightly brown. Sift powdered sugar onto wax paper while cookies are baking. Place baked cookies on waxed paper and once cooled off, sift more powdered sugar on top of cookies until fully covered; you might not need the entire pound of powdered sugar. Place cookies in paper cupcake holders to serve.

*Using an electric hand mixer is a personal preference and the timing is almost exact for the perfect consistency.

Butter Learnings

Traditionally, European butter has at least 82% butterfat whereas, American butter is at least 80% butter. Today European style butter is easily found in the US and may, also, be cultured* giving it a  slightly tangier taste. 

This recipe calls for unsalted butter making me think why unsalted instead of salted. A Food & Wine article came across my e-mail just as I was contemplating the unsalted versus salted butter conundrum.

• According to recommendations from Martha Stewart the Vermont unsalted butter is the best to use and it can be kept frozen up to 4 months. PS   Martha, also, likes  Plugra and Kerrygold. 
• I use Challenge unsalted butter and it has 10% butterfat in it; little did I know why I like these cookies so much. My mom, who taught home-economics, would always used unsalted butter because she would say it tasted better and you can control the salt content. 
• Historically, salt was added to butter as a preservative which does help to increase the shelf-life, but is not so significant today with refrigeration.

* cultured butter is made by adding live bacterial cultures to pasteurized cream, allowing it to ferment and thicken before churning. 

Flour Learnings

1. Today, modern milling techniques pre-sift store bought flour. Though, it is safe to say that if a recipe calls for sifting, I would for sure sift the flour.

2. Why sift? Sifting aerates the flour, making it a lighter, more consistent mixture. In the old days, sifting may have been necessary to remove any bugs or seeds. Also, if your bag of flour is sitting around for a month before using, sifting can help eliminate clumps.

Batter after beating with electric mixture for 10 minutes