Kourambiethes (Greek Christmas Cookies)

It’s time for my annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap post!

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap hosted is by Lindsay of Love & Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen. For the past five years, the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap has helped raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, a national non-profit organization committed to funding new therapies used in the fight against pediatric cancer, which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease.

 

In the past, I’ve made Hot Cocoa Cookies and Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan Cookies and Dark Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies. This year, I went for something completely different: Kourambiethes!

Kourambiethes are Greek Christmas Cookies, but also show up for really any celebratory event, so they are an all-year kind of treat. They are nut butter cookies, typically made with almonds or walnuts, which are then rolled in confectioners sugar. The result is a shortbread cookie that melts in your mouth!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups walnuts
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 1 tablepsoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons orange flower water
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Add the walnuts to a saute pan and toast until fragrant, about 6 minutes. Set aside to cool.

 

Take about 1 cup of the nuts, chop them, and set aside.

Add the remaining 1 cup nuts to a food processor and pulse until finely ground.

Stir the flour, baking powder, salt and chopped walnuts and finely ground walnuts together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, combine the butter, sugar, egg yolk, brandy and vanilla extract with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until the mixture gets light and fluffy, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the nut mixture  at low speed to make a crumbly dough. Cover the bowl and set dough aside at room temperature for 1 hour.

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or coat with nonstick spray.

 

Using a tablespoon or small cookie scoop, scoop out the dough and roll into balls. Pinch the ends of the balls to make a football shape.

Add the cookies to the baking sheets. Bake until the cookies set and begin to brown, about 18-20 minutes.

Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately brush them lightly with the orange water. (If you don’t have a brush, dip your fingers into the orange water and flick it over the cookies .) You don’t want the cookies “wet” from this, just enough to scent them.

Add the confectioners’ sugar to a fine mesh sieve and tap the sieve to coat the cookies in the sugar. The orange water will soak up some of the sugar, so repeat after a few minutes to really coat them.

Add to a rack to allow the cookies to finish cooling.

These little guys may not be much to look at, but boy are they tasty!

I love the hint of orange blossom water, and the crumbly texture of the cookie.

They just melt in your mouth!

 

I really hit the jackpot this year in cookie deliveries! Check out what I received below (they were all gone within a day or so of receiving each them, my fiance is quite the cookie monster).

• White Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies from Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Orange Pecan Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies from Lindsey at American Heritage Cooking

 

I sent my cookies to the following bloggers; I hope they liked them! Their cookies look amazing as well! check them out below.

• Spiced Nashville Cornmeal Cookies from Mindy at Cheater Chef
• Chai Chocolate Tassies from Sybil at Sad Shibow
• Caramel Stuffed Cocoa Cookies with Sea Salt from Lexi at Lexi Bites