The Greek Food

Tag: greek dessert

  • Kourabiedes – Traditional Greek Christmas Cookie Recipe

    Kourabiedes – Traditional Greek Christmas Cookie Recipe

    During Christmas there are two cookies that were and still are very much traditional in our house.  Eating isli and kourabiedes. While i have covered the first in a previous article it is time i think to focus on the latter. 

    Kourabiedes are cookies that are dived in sugar and because of there white appearance are really popular during Christmas.  When you see them, they may resemble light and airy shortbread, but are made with the addition of almonds. Almonds are the most important ingredient in a Kourabied, and provide the cookie’s signature almond flavor. Other ingredients include large amount of butter, as well as flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract, among others.  

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BdJcVxiHlXx/

    In the past few years i always remembered my mother experimenting with kourambiedes and trying to create a less sugary version  of them.

    INGREDIENTS FOR KOURABIEDES

    • 700gr of flower
    • 500gr of butter 
    • 2 eggs
    • 50gr cognac +20gr mastic
    • 1vanilla sticks 
    • 100gr powdered sugar
    • 140gr of almonds
    • 1 spoon of baking soda

    For the topping

    2 x 200 gr of white chocolate

    kourabiedes
    Our Kourabiedes are ready!

    HOW TO MAKE KOURABIEDES

    1. Start by roasting the almonds. Place the roughly chopped almonds on a baking tray and sprinkle with some water. Bake them for 7-8 minutes, until roasted, being careful not to burn them. Set aside or put in the fridge to cool down
    2. In the mixer continue by “hitting” the butter with the powdered sugar for 10 minutes until they become cream.
    3. Add one by one the eggs, the vanilla and soda. Afterwards, 2-3 spoons of flour so the mixture is ready to accept the cognac. Afterwards, we add the almonds. 
    4. Now its time to add the rest of the flour  slowly from the sieve. Continue to mix, until the flour is soaked.  Be careful though not to over do it. 
    5. Take slowly and make small -bit flattish- balls of 30gr each. Put them in the oven and bake them on 170c for 20 minutes. 
    6. As we bake them, in a small pot, we melt around of 200gr of  white chocolate. 

     

     

     

     

  • My Mothers Isli recipe

    My Mothers Isli recipe

    Going back home for Christmas is something that is always a little bit of ritual. Like every celebration there are some things you need to do or expect from some. Like you expect to get some gifts or give some gifts or even eat a turkey or pork if you are in Greece. That is what i was expecting every time i was going back home…a lot of food and my mothers traditional isli desserts.

    Well, isli is a dessert that Greeks cook it during Christmas and has its roots from Turkey and far far before…  I am not so sure about the history to be honest but i do have learned that in Turkish  it means “that is worked”, basically meaning that is all worked with your hands as you need to do it to make it.

    Exhibit A your honour! The encrypted recipe!

    My mother is pretty well know in the family for making really tasty isli’s and rumours says many people ask her advice on how to cook them.

    Last christmas when i was in Greece i managed to write down the recipe from my mother with the purpose to get it out to the public…. And so i did it . Sorry mom, the secret is out!


    Ingredients for Isli Recipe

    For the dough

    1. 400gr of herbal butter
    2. 1 glass of orange juice (200gr) diluted with a bit of water
    3. 100gr of sugar
    4. Zest from orange
    5. 700gr  of  flour

    For the Sirop

    1. 400gr of Sugar
    2. 200gr of water
    3. 1/2 lemon juice + 1 lemon peel
    For the stuffing
    1. 250gr of walnuts
    2. 2 spoons of sugar
    3. Cloves
    4. Cinnamon
    5. 1 spoon orange zest

    How you Cook Isli cookies

    Take a pot and in medium heat add the butter and melt it. Add sugar and stir it with a spoon until it is half melted.

    Transfer everything to a deep bowl and add the orange juice with a bit of water.  Now its time to add our orange zest and stir with our hands. Lastly we add the flour and we stir everything with our hands creating our dough.

    For the stuffing we take the walnuts and break them in the multi taking care though not to “melt” them, adding the rest of our ingredients and mixing them up properly.

    isli
    isli sent from my mother…all the way from Greece

    Take a bit from the dough and create a small ball…now here comes the important thing.  At a moment when she was too tired my mother told me that in order to get this beautiful size on all of them she weighs each bit of dough to be exactly 45gr.

    Place it on your hand and open it up in a circle. Place one spoon from the stuffing and close it creating a small triangle. Turn it around so the seams are underneath and with a tweezers you pinch them to create the decoration on top. You can improvise..

    Place them in the oven for 25 minutes at 170c and leave them until they become red around. That is necessary so they don’t get soft when you pour the sirop on top.

    When they become red-brownish on top you remove them from the oven and you leave them on the side to cool down. Now its time to prepare the sirop.

    Add the water, sugar and the lemon in a small  pot and boil them in medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes. If the sirop thickens then add a bit of water to dilute and wait until you get the first boil.

    Pour the sirop on top of the isli and …enjoy!

    isli
    Traditional Greek Isli cookies for Christmas
  • Greek Desserts: Yogurt with Honey

    Greek Desserts: Yogurt with Honey

    The following is a desert that you can’t really imagine how easy it is to make and how tasty it can be…

    If you go to a Greek restaurant this one is a typical dessert served that rarely people appreciate. To be honest I never appreciated when I was at home and my mother usually was making it for her.

    Reading a little bit more about Yogurt with honey you find out that it’s really good for the digestive system also…mmm that’s something I didn’t knew..

    Well, how difficult it is?…

     

    There is more simple to this dessert. Just make a mix and try it.

    You can add to it if you want by adding walnuts…almonds ..or fruits… There are various variations to that and you can just keep on creating..