Kourabiedes (Greek almond biscuits)
- Published: 1 Dec 15
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
Maria Elia’s melt-in-the-mouth biscuit recipe hails back to the Greek patisseries of her childhood. These buttery ‘snowballs’ are often served at festive times, Easter and Christmas.
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Makes about 34 -
Hands-on time 35 min, oven time 20 min
Nutrition
- Calories
- 20kcals
- Fat
- 8g (4g saturated)
- Protein
- 1.8g
- Carbohydrates
- 10g (3.1g sugars)
- Fibre
- 0.4g
delicious. tips
The crescent shape is traditional but the dough can be rolled out to 1cm thick and cut into shapes with a pastry cutter if you prefer. They need to be bite-size, though, as they’re pretty messy to eat.
You can experiment by adding various flavour combinations in step 3. Try finely chopped fresh rosemary and grated orange zest; a pinch of ground cardamom or ginger; crushed fennel seeds or finely chopped white chocolate chips and a drizzle of rosewater; chopped almonds and walnuts; or a pinch of ground cinnamon with brandy instead of ouzo.You can make the dough up to 48 hours in advance. Wrap in cling film and store in a sealed container in the fridge. Bring up to room temperature a few hours before baking. The finished biscuits will keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
It’s traditional to stud each crescent with a clove before baking – it recalls the spices given by the Three Wise Men to the infant Jesus, but it’s not nice if you forget to remove the clove before taking a bite! Nowadays most people leave them out of the recipe.