Greek Christmas Shortbread Cookies Recipe (Kourabiethes) (2024)

FAQs

Are Kourabiedes Greek or Turkish? ›

Kourabiedes are Greek almond cookies that are buttery beyond words! This shortbread is kissed with orange blossom water and covered in a flurry of powdered sugar.

The most common mistakes when making shortbread are over-working the dough, and incorporating too much flour. The less you work the dough, the more crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth your shortbread cookies will be.

Butter is an emulsifier and it makes cookies tender. It also adds in the crispy-around-the-edges element. Adding too much butter can cause the cookies to be flat and greasy. Adding too little butter can cause the cookies to be tough and crumbly.

The most famous Greek cookies

Kourabiedes, also known as “Greek Wedding Cookies” (in some regions, they are served at special occasions such as weddings or christenings), are Greek biscuits or cookies that resemble light and airy shortbread, but are made with the addition of almonds.

In Greece, butter cookies are shaped like crescents and referred to as kourabiedes. The name is based on the Turkish version called kurabiye, which means dry (kuru) and biscuit (biye).

Spend extra when it really counts: If you're making a recipe where butter really is the star (think shortbread or biscuits), splashing out for a package of Kerrygold or Vital Farms is worth the expense. The fine differences in the flavor are most impactful in these recipes.

This unexpected addition will make buttery confections like shortbreads and shortcakes even more tender and flaky. “Biscuits should be crumbly, buttery and sweet,” reads a headnote for a cinnamon sugar-spiced shortbread recipe in the Ritz London Cookbook.

Traditional Scottish shortbread is a simple recipe made with sugar, butter, flour, and salt. Other shortbread styles will include leavening agents like baking powder and baking soda, which makes them crisp instead of crumbly like traditional Scottish shortbread.

Step 3: The Secret to the Absolute Best Shortbread

After shaping the cookies, don't rush to the oven! Instead, chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so (overnight is OK, too). A short stay in the fridge will firm up the cookies and solidify the butter. This will help keep them from spreading too much.

What happens if you don't poke holes in shortbread? ›

Piercing the shortbread with a fork is not only for decoration, but it's meant for more even baking. Poking holes in the shortbread allows the heat to penetrate the cookie, hence more even baking. Notice I'm using powdered sugar here.

If it's too warm, the butter and sugar cannot properly cream and the cookies will taste dense. Many shortbread recipes call for cold butter worked into the dry ingredients and that gives you a wonderfully flaky cookie but if not mixed properly, the results can be inconsistent.

Use unsalted butter for balanced flavour. Unsalted butter was traditionally used in baking because it was a superior product to salted - salt is used as a preservative so unsalted butter was thought to be fresher.

Shortbread should always have a tender, melting texture, but be slightly crisp when you bite into it. It should not generally be damp or wet underneath.

It comes from the Turkish kurabuye or the Arabic qurabiya and actually means double-baked. As much as it belongs to the popular tradition of the Middle East, but also of the surrounding people, it seems that the white kourabies has its origin in European traditions.

Kourabiedes (singular kourabies), the other Greek Christmas staple, originated from Turkey, where they are called kurabiye.

The Greek word "kourabiedes" comes from the Turkish word kurabiye, which is related to qurabiya, a family of Middle Eastern cookies. In Cyprus, they are often given as gifts to wedding attendees after the ceremony.

In Greece, Turkish delight, known as loukoumi [λουκούμι] has been a very popular delicacy since the 19th century, famously produced in the city of Patras (Patrina loukoumia) as well as on the island of Syros and the northern Greek cities Thessaloniki, Serres and Komotini but elsewhere as well.