Kourampiedes recipe, Greek Christmas butter cookies

Kourampiedes recipe, a traditional Greek Christmas cookie covered in icing sugar, sure to please everybody this festive season!

If you have Greek heritage, you absolutely know that Christmas is a highly divisive period. Team- melomakarona and team- kourampiedes is an ongoing rivalry, with devoted fans from across the country, or the globe even!

Kourampiedes are incredibly delicious butter cookies, soft, fluffy with a crunchy bite and rich almond (or pistachio if you are feeling adventurous) and incredible aroma. Savvy cooks know that the traditional recipe requires time and effort. Well, this kourampiedes recipe changes everything! 

A few tips for kourampiedes success. Firstly and most importantly, use good quality butter sheep and goat butter. This brings a milky, deep and intense flavor to the cookie. Not to mention the aroma… divine! 

Next, you need to master your kneading skills! Too much mixing will make the cookie dough stiff. To little kneading and the ingredients will not incorporate well. Find the rhythm that works best for you. Better yet, add each ingredient little by little, so you can ensure that all tasted do blend well. 

Now, it’s time for the hardest part. Baking! As I’ve mentioned before, when you bake, you have to constantly keep an eye on the oven. A good friend of mine is always saying the oven is heating, the baker is baking. That’s because the oven is such an unreliable way of cooking. After it reaches the designated temperature, it still keeps climbing to higher temperatures. That’s why the first batch of baked goods is beautiful, golden-crusted and the next batches turn out brown-is. Should you notice that your cookies are browning suspiciously fast, lower the temperature. 

Now, it’s time to reveal my easy kourampiedes recipe!

Print recipe

Kourampiedes

Kourampiedes recipe, a traditional Greek Christmas cookie full of butter aromas, covered in icing sugar. Sure to please everybody this festive season!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Greek

Keyword Kourampiedes

Prep time 45 minutes minutes

Cook time 20 minutes minutes

Total time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 50 cookies

Calories 180kcal

Ingredients

• 8 oz sheep and goat butter room temperature
• 1.4 oz confectioner’s sugar plus a lot more, to dust
• 1.1 lb all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 5.2 oz white almond roasted at 320oF for 10 minutes

Instructions

• In a standing mixer, beat on medium speed the sheep and goat butter (which should be very softened) with the confectioner’s sugar, for about 20 minutes, until double in size with soft white peaks.
• Using the paddle attachment, add the flour and baking powder to the mixture. Beat well on low-medium speed.
• In the pestle and mortar, grind the almond. Add to the mixture and mix well.
• Preheat the oven to 356oF and layer the bottom of two baking trays with parchment paper.
• Roll approximately 1 tsp of the dough per cookie into a ball, and place on the baking tray. Continue until the dough is used up.
• Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until they have a light golden color and are cooked through. Be careful not to overcook them.
• In a baking dish, add confectioner’s sugar. Place the kourampiedes in batches, while still hot, and dust with more confectioner’s sugar, until fully covered with sugar.
• Allow to cool and serve cold on a festive platter.
• When completely cool, store the kourampiedes in airtight food containers.

Video

Fancy another festive recipe? Check out this traditional fanouropita (Greek cake for lost things)