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Tags: cookie, almond, Greek, kourabiedes, coconut_oil


Greek Almond Cookies (Kourabiedes)

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These #vegan Greek cookies somehow satisfy my sweet tooth without being overly sweet.

Kourabiedes are popular Greek cookies, served at major holidays. They normally use a fair bit of butter and sometimes egg yolk, but veganizing them is not terribly difficult. The real magic is the ground nuts, in this case almonds, and a little touch of spirits, in this case, cognac, and those ingredients are all good for vegans.

Now I'm not going to lie to you—the coconut oil and ground almonds conspire to make these little beauties a bit rich. However, I find the flavour contrasts beautifully with most main courses, especially spicy main courses, and one cookie is plenty to top off the meal. They are just sweet enough to be satisfying as a dessert, but they don't hit you over the head with sweetness. I hope you enjoy them.

Ingredients

3/4 cup refined coconut oil (don't use "virgin" coconut oil or they will taste like mini-coconuts)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp brandy (e.g., cognac)

1/4 cup icing sugar, plus 1/2 cup for dusting

1 cup flour

1 cup almond meal (usually available in bulk stores)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 °F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat coconut oil until fluffy.

coconut oil in a bowl beaten coconut oil

Add vanilla and brandy and beat again.

adding brandy and vanilla

Do the same for the 1/4 cup icing sugar.

batter with sugar added

Add flour and almond meal, mixing with a wooden spoon, and then by hand, just until the dough comes together. Don't overmix.

adding almond meal mixed dough

Use a small scoop to make roughly 1 Tbl sized balls, rounded between your palms. Lay the cookies out on the parchment. (There should be about 16 of them.)

making 1 Tbl cookie balls cookies on parchment

Bake 13-15 minutes, until very lightly browned on top.

cookies after baking

When completely cool, place in a container with a lid and refrigerate for a couple of hours (so the cookies get nice and solid). Then, dump in the remaining 1/2 cup icing sugar, and gently rotate the container to coat the cookies in sugar.

adding dusting of icing sugar

Because coconut oil melts not too much higher than room temperature, it is probably best to store these in the fridge so they don't get gritty. Enjoy!

the finished cookies

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Posted: Thursday, May 5, 2016


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