Greek Tea Cookies (Kourambiethes)

The Art.

    There's just something about dusting cookies with powdered sugar that makes my mouth water. 

When I was a child, kourambiethes were my favorite cookie for this very reason. When the Greek church would have events, there would be trays and trays of kourambiethes painstakingly prepared by the old Yiayias of the congregation, and let me tell you, these women really knew how important powdered sugar is. Their cookies were piled high with at least an inch of generously sifted powdered sugar, a child's dream come true. Sometimes I really miss those heady days of powdered sugar and cheek pinching, and I get a hankering to make some kourambiethes. Of course, my tastes have changed a bit since then, and I've developed this recipe to make nutty, buttery cookies that aren't too sweet. The trick is to add less sugar to the dough and use salted butter--something most bakers would consider a blasphemy, but I am a strong advocate of complementing sweet flavors with savory ones.

The Science.

    Not only are these tea cookies coated with powdered sugar, they also have a wonderful texture that is light and crumbly. This is because I pulse some of the walnuts into a meal, which releases the oils. Along with the butter, the walnut oils make the cookies "short," meaning that the fats interact with the gluten in the flour and prevent it from holding the cookies together [1]. The walnut meal also makes the cookies lighter because it is more coarse than flour, preventing the butter from making the cookie dense and cakey. Adding a little brandy to the dough not only imparts a deep flavor, the alcohol also inhibits gluten aggregation [2]. The result is a nutty, crumbly cookie with a hint of brandy flavor and sugar.

    One more reason why these cookies turn out amazingly well is because they are baked on a light-colored air bake cookie sheet. The air pockets in the pan and the light color keep the bottom of the cookies from baking faster than the top. If you use a dark pan or your cookies are resting on a thick piece of heat-absorbing metal, your cookies will burn on the bottom before they are done. If you follow this advice with all your cookie recipies, I think you'll find that your cookies will always bake up beautifully even from top to bottom.

The Recipe.

Kourambiethes: (Makes 50)

2 cups chopped walnuts, divided

2 cups flour

¾ t salt

2 sticks salted butter, softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1½ teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons brandy

1 cup powdered sugar

    Preheat oven to 350F.  Place racks at upper middle and lower middle positions. In medium bowl, combine 1 cup nuts, flour, and salt.  Pulse the remaining cup of nuts in a food processor until fine, about the consistency of corn meal.  Stir into flour mixture. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in vanilla and brandy.  Add flour mixture and mix until evenly incorporated.

    Roll dough into tablespoon-sized balls, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet approximately 1 inch apart.  Bake 35min, or until golden, rotating racks top-to-bottom and front-to-back halfway through to promote even baking. 

     Cool cookies on baking sheet 2min, then roll in powdered sugar while still hot. This gives the cookies a delicious coating of partially melted sugar. Place on cooling rack and cool 25 minutes.  Once completely cool, dust with additional powdered sugar from sifter.

1.  Zannini, E. et al. "Functional Replacements for Gluten." Annual Review of Food Science and Technology 2012, Vol. 3: pp 227-245.

2.  Wieser, H. "Chemistry of gluten proteins." Food Microbiology 2007, Vol. 24(2): pp 115-9.