Koulourakia

Koulourakia, also known as Greek Easter cookies are buttery pastry that are traditionally hand-shaped into braided circles, hairpin twists, figure eights, twisted wreaths, horseshoes or Greek letters. They have a mild sweet flavor with a hint of vanilla and a beautiful golden colour egg glaze on their top.

Knowing that I'm not a Greek, you might ask..."Why are you baking Koulourakia?"

It all started on one typical morning tea when our half-Greek colleague shared her traditional Koulourakia recipe with everyone. Interestingly, every Greek family has their own different version of Koulourakia. In Australia, most Greek families celebrate their Easter day with their extended community with a large variety of Koulourakia, all in different shapes and flavours. My colleague's recipe uses orange juice and melted butter for her cookies but I prefer the creaming method and so I've decided to use this recipe by Taste.com.

I made these cookies for a Sunday morning tea with my friend and her family and everyone including our kids loves these cookies.

The cookies without the icing sugar..

check out the texture of the cookies...delicious!

Here's the recipe from Taste.com with my slight modifications in blue.

Makes 28

200g butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbs each of orange and lemon rind (I didn't add this)
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup milk
2 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup self-raising flour
1 egg yolk
icing sugar to serve

Preheat oven 180°C. Beat 200g butter and 1 cup caster sugar until creamy. Add 1 tsp vanilla essence and 1 tbs each of orange and lemon rind. Beat in 3 egg yolks. Beat in 1/4 cup milk, 2 1/4 cups plain flour and 3/4 cup self-raising flour. Bring together on a lightly floured surface. Roll 1 tablespoon of the mixture into a 20cm log. Fold in half, pinch ends together and twist 2 times. Repeat. (I shaped it into "S" shapes too.) Place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Whisk 1 egg yolk with 1 tbs water. Brush over the cookies. Bake 20-22 minutes or until golden. Cool completely. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

I made 43 cookies with this recipe and bake them at 180°C fan forced for 10-15 min.

Happy Baking
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