Kourabiedes, the traditional Greek Christmas Butter Cookies, are a melt-in-your-mouth perfect holiday treat! They are sweet and buttery with pieces of toasted almonds and covered with powdered sugar. One of the most popular desserts during the holiday season, they are easy to make and difficult to resist!
If you love these Greek Christmas Butter Cookies, you will also love Trigona-Almond Pastry Triangles and Melomakarona – Greek Christmas Honey Cookies!
Why this recipe sings
Kourabiedes the Greek Christmas Butter Cookies is a treat all Greeks await with great excitement. Around November, these fabulous butter cookies smothered in powdered sugar appear in pastry shops and bakeries. Kourabiedes are sweet, soft, crunchy, indulgent, and special.
This kourabiedes recipe has all the secrets to achieving fragrant, crunchy, and fluffy Christmas butter cookies. It combines recipes I have tried through the years, especially the one from the great Greek pastry chef Stelio Parliaro.
Here is what you need
- Ghee. At room temperature. Ghee or clarified butter is the best for this recipe. You can also use unsalted butter.
- Unpeeled whole almonds. They will get roasted and then ground into medium-large pieces.
- Dark rum or Amaretto Disaronno. Amaretto is a sour almond liquor, great for kourabiedes.
- Ground nutmeg. I love grinding my nutmeg from the seed. Nutmeg gives a perfect aroma to kourabiedes.
- Powdered sugar. For the cookie dough as well as for finishing the baked cookies.
- Unbleached all-purpose flour.
- Vanilla extract.
- Baking powder.
- Rose water. A touch of rose water can be sprinkled over the cookies before rolling them in the icing sugar. Leaves a faint beautiful aroma. Optional, not shown in the ingredients photo.
Detailed measurements and instructions can be found on the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Tips
- The fluffier and creamier the butter mixture, the fluffier the cookies.
- Whipping the butter with the sugar requires high speed. But as soon as we start gradually adding flour, the speed needs to be low to avoid ruining the fluffy texture of the butter and sugar mixture.
- Kourabiedes are baked at a low temperature for 20 to 30 minutes. They should come out of the oven with a light color and without a hard texture.
- Spilling the icing sugar when the cookies are fully cooled is imperative. Otherwise, if the cookie is still warm, the sugar will create a layer on top that will be thick and without a pleasant taste.
- The almonds need to be cool when added to the dough. Otherwise, the dough will tighten significantly.
- The dough should be soft, buttery, and pliable. Allow the dough to rest covered for 20 minutes. This will make the cookies easier to shape.
- It is not suggested to cut the cookies with a cookie cutter. It is better to shape them by hand due to the almond pieces. You can skip the almonds and use cookie cutters to shape them into stars, hearts, etc.
Storing
- The cookies must be covered when not served because they quickly absorb moisture and get damp.
- When stored in an airtight container, they can be kept for a long time. To prevent the cookies from rubbing against each other, add parchment paper between the layers when you store them.
Step by step
1. Spread the almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes or until they get a nice dark golden color at 320°F / 160°C. Let the almonds cool. Pulse almonds in a food processor into thick pieces or break them with a mortar and pestle.
2. Using your mixer beat the butter with the sugar using the wire whip attachment at high speed for about 20 minutes. Gradually add the flour, baking powder, and vanilla. Continue beating at a lower speed for 10 minutes until the mixture turns white and is a fluffy white cream.
3. Remove the mixing bowl from the mixer and fold in the almonds and rum.
4. Form cookies into a round shape with a diameter of 1.5 inches. Press lightly with your finger on the top. Place cookies on a parchment paper baking sheet. Bake them in a preheated oven at 350°F / 170° C for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size we made them.
5. Remove from the oven, and let cookies cool completely.
Optional but great: Fill a spray bottle with rose water and lightly spray the cookies, or sprinkle some with your fingers.
6. Add the icing sugar to a large bowl. Add the cookies to the bowl with the sugar. Turn cookies around, cover them with sugar, and transfer them to a serving platter.
Troubleshooting
- Why did the kourabiedes cookies pop on top? When the cookie is fluffy, it will burst slightly on top. That means that you have achieved the melt-in-your-mouth texture of soft buttery goodness.
- Why did the cookies spread in the oven? You probably used more sugar than you should, or the oven is not at the right temperature.
- Why did the kourabiedes mixture break before baking? Because you probably added more flour or too many almonds, the dough became tough and crumbly instead of soft and buttery.
Holiday dishes
Check out my Greek pantry staples
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Kourabiedes – Greek Christmas Butter Cookies
Equipment
- Rimmed baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Food processor
- Mixer (hand mixer or tabletop)
Ingredients
- 300 grams ghee or clarified butter softened 1¼ cup = 2 tablespoons
- 120 grams unpeeled whole almonds 1 cup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 110 grams confectioners sugar 1 cup
- 25 ml rum or Amaretto Disaronno A little more than half a shot glass
- 600 grams unbleached all purpose flour 4⅕ cups
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup rose water optional
Instructions
- Spread the almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and roast at 320°F / 160°C. Let the almonds cool. Pulse almonds in a food processor into thick pieces or break them with a mortar and pestle.
- Using your mixer beat the butter with the sugar using the wire whip attachment at high speed for about 20 minutes. Gradually add the flour, baking powder, and vanilla. Continue beating at a lower rate for 10 minutes until the mixture turns white and is a fluffy white cream.
- Remove mixing bowl from mixer and fold in the almonds and rum.
- Form cookies into a round shape with a diameter of 1.5 inches. Press lightly with your finger on the top. Place cookies on a parchment paper baking sheet. Bake them in a preheated oven at 350°F / 170° C for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size we made them.
- Remove from the oven, and let cookies cool completely. Optional: Fill a spray bottle with rose water and spray the cookies lightly. Or sprinkle some with your fingers.
- Add the icing sugar to a large bowl. Add the cookies to the bowl with the sugar. Turn cookies around, cover them well with sugar, and transfer them to a serving platter.
- For serving: Often, home cooks create a pyramid shape with the cookies, sprinkling each row with extra sugar.
Notes
- The fluffier and creamier the butter mixture is, the fluffier the cookies will be.
- Whipping the butter with the sugar requires high speed. But as soon as we start gradually adding flour, the speed needs to be low to avoid ruining the fluffy texture of the butter and sugar mixture.
- Kourabiedes are baked at a low temperature for 20 to 30 minutes. They should come out of the oven with a light color and without a hard texture.
- Spilling the icing sugar when the cookies are fully cooled is imperative. Otherwise, if the cookie is still warm, the sugar will create a layer on top that will be thick and without a pleasant taste.
- The almonds need to be cool when added to the dough; otherwise, the dough will tighten significantly.
- The dough should be soft, buttery, and pliable. Allow the dough to rest covered for 20 minutes. This will make the cookies easier to shape.
- It is not suggested to cut the cookies with a cookie cutter. It is better to shape them by hand due to the almond pieces. You can skip the almonds and use cookie cutters to shape them into stars, hearts, etc.
Storing
- The cookies must be covered when not served because they easily absorb moisture and get damp.
- They can be kept for a long time when stored in an airtight container. Add parchment paper between cookie layers when you store them so they do not rub against each other.
Nutrition
Love the look of these holiday treats. I am sure they melt in your mouth. Perfect for treat trays, and as a food gift too.
They are perfect for gifting! Thank you so much, Gloria!
These sound delicious and fun to make! Adding them to our Christmas cookies list to bake up t his year!
Thank you so much, Lauren!
I have had these store bought before… but never homemade. Yum and really quite easy to do.
That’s so nice! Thank you so much, Mikayla!
x Jenny
I have not made these yet, but am planning to soon. I was wondering, could I just refrigerate the dough if I plan to bake the cookies the next day?
Hi Natalia,
I have never tried to refrigerate the dough for these cookies. I am hesitant to suggest doing so. If you try it, please let me know your results!
Hope you like the cookies! Thank you so much, x Jenny
I make something similar but use butter. I trued swapping it with ghee and wow! It did take it to the next level. It just adds such a unique flavor and I love it.
I know what you mean Sandya. I used to make these cookies with regular butter and found the clarified butter brings them to the next level.
Thank you co much for your comment! x Jenny
These have always been one of my favorite cookies during the holidays but I’ve never tried to make them. So glad I did because this recipe was fantastic! Much better than store bought.
I am so glad. Thanks so much, Kristina!
Happy Holidays! x Jenny
I was looking for an easy recipe with ingredients I had on hand to give out to teachers for gifts, and this was it. Great recipe and surprisingly easy.
These cookies make a perfect gift! Thank you so much, Madelyn! x Jenny
How long do you roast the almonds?
Hi Jennifer,
The almonds roast for about 15 minutes at 160°C / 320°F. I will check the post in case we missed that.
Thanks so much! Happy holidays! x Jenny
Came across several Kourabiedes recipes just now including yours. None have inserting a clove in the cookie before baking. Just stick the clove in the top – in the indent you mentioned – with the end exposed. Don’t cover it with dough.
The clove of course adds flavor, and is the reason one doesn’t pop one in your mouth. One guest thought they were like the similar appearing Danish cookies, and was embarrassed with choking.
Also, my mother stored them in confectioner’s sugar. Pot or tin, the Kourabiedes would be placed on a thin bed of XX sugar, then more sugar was poured on top, then the next layer of cookies, and so forth. The trick is to place them close enough so as to minimize the sugar use, but not so close that you cannot get them out without damaging them. (Everything has a trick.)
The sugar is both the sweetener and a preservative. Lasted several months, if they weren’t eaten before then.
Hi! Thank you so much for your comment.
In Greece, you don’t see them often with a clove on top. I don’t know if I have ever tasted one, I probably have, but I can’t recall. Maybe it is a tradition that didn’t continue through the years. I love your suggestion on how to store the cookies in confectioners’ sugar. I will add your tip to the recipe notes.
Thanks again, x Jenny
Ich liebe Kourabiedes, früher in meiner Kindheit, das absolute Highlight bei meiner Yiayia zur Weihnachtszeit. Ich habe nun das erste Mal selbst gebacken. Vielen Dank für das tolle Rezept.
Kalá Christoúgenna
Das ist wunderbar! Vielen Dank, frohe Weihnachten!
Καλά Χριστούγεννα Mary! x Jenny