Kourabiethes (Greek Almond Biscuits) Recipe
Updated Jan 18, 2022, Published May 01, 2019
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Kourabiethes are traditional Greek almond shortbread biscuits. Synonymous with every Christmas and Easter celebration at our house growing up, I would inevitably end up dusted in a cloud of icing sugar as I ate through the snowy pile on my plate. My recipe for these is beautifully fragrant and buttery with the perfect amount of crunch from toasted almonds and a gorgeous aroma from rosewater and ouzo. Remember to toast the almonds for that all-important crunch and warm, nutty notes.
Kourabiethes (Greek Almond Biscuits)
Ingredients
- ½ pound unsalted butter, , room temperature
- ½ cup powdered/icing sugar, , sifted, plus more for dusting
- 2 ¾ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 1 cup slivered almonds, , toasted
- 1 tablespoon ouzo
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon rosewater, (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
- Roll dough into 25 even-sized crescent shapes and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes or until browned.
- Remove from oven and let cool on the tray. Dust liberally with powdered sugar.
Notes
If the dough is too sticky to roll, refrigerate for 10 minutes and dust with a little extra flour.
Nutrition
Calories: 145kcalCarbohydrates: 12gProtein: 2gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 94mgPotassium: 32mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 225IUCalcium: 22mgIron: 0.6mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This came out perfectly first time. Such light biscuits!
Hi Katherine! I’ve now made this 4 times and although the taste is spot on, the texture is soooo dry. Mind if I ask what brand of flour you used? And….did you follow the recipe exactly? I’m determined to make these taste right! :-)
I used Tom Sawyer 1:1 GF flour. The batter was like dust. no way to make into cookies. Looked at my mom’s original kourambiethes recipe and she added an egg yolk. Added that to see if it would add some moisture. Added a second one. Eventually I just molded them and made them into cookies. The flavor was great, but they were SOOOOO dry they stuck to the roof of your mouth. Inedible. I’m not a baker, but I’m assuming too much flour. (And because I do NOT bake, I followed the recipe precisely). Could it possibly be the brand of flour would make that much of a difference?
Did you make any substitutions in the recipe? And does your flour contain xanthan gum?
I only didnt add ouzo. Otherwise followed exactly. Tom Sawyer flour ingredients:
White Rice Flour
Sweet Rice Flour
Tapioca Flour
Xantham Gum
Unflavored gelatin.
What brand flour do you use?
I use my own flour blend: https://glutenfreeandmore.com/carols-all-purpose-flour but this particular recipe was created by another writer, so I’m not sure what flour she used to create this. The ingredients you listed are pretty typical of any other gluten-free all-purpose flour blend, with the exception of the unflavored gelatin. That’s not as common and I wonder if that impacted the recipe in some way.
Interesting. On this page, she says to use Carol’s (which I had never heard of) and on another page she has with the same recipe (https://helentzouganatos.com/greek-kourabiethes-gluten-free/), she says to use Bob’s Red Mill with the blue packaging.
So….I made them again tonight. Only half a batch, just in case! The Bob’s Red Mill was definitely better than the Tom Sawyer I had used. It actually made the dough into a texture I’d expect – not crumbly. But still…The end result…still pretty dry. NOT as bad as before. So, you’ve made this exact recipe using the Carol’s flour? And you’re Carol?! :-)
Hi there! Sorry for the confusion. Let me help clarify.
This recipe is from Helen Tzouganatos and was published in Gluten Free & More Magazine, which is why it’s also on our website. Helen used what she said she used on her blog post — Bob’s Red Mill. We at Gluten Free & More typically use Carol’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour in the recipes we make for the website and magazine. However, as stated, this recipe was created by Helen and we did not test this particular recipe with Carol’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour. The link you see in the recipe ingredients that goes to Carol’s flour happens automatically because of a recipe plugin we use — it basically links all “gluten free flour” listings in the ingredients list of recipes to Carol’s flour. I hope that all makes sense.
That said, if this recipe worked well with Bob’s Red Mill then it should also work well with Carol’s Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour.
Thanks for the clarification!