Orthodox Easter is coming up soon and we are all preparing for a big fat Greek family feast. One of our favourite recipes to make for Greek Easter is a biscuit called Koulouria.
Koulouria can be made in a few different shapes. You can plat the biscuits or roll them in to circles or make “S” shapes. In fact, you can make what ever shape biscuit you like or get the kids in the kitchen and let them have a bit of fun making biscuits too.
You will spend a little bit of time rolling out the biscuit shapes on to the tray before baking them. It’s much easier to do if you have some help in the kitchen so we recommend inviting a friend or family member over and doing a few big batches together. Many hands make light work.
At Easter time, we have a big cooking day (or a couple of big cooking days). Everyone comes together in the kitchen, our mums our yiayias, our sisters and our theas. We make a few batches of these biscuits and other traditional recipes like tsoureki and flaounas. After the big cook up everyone will take their share of biscuits home.
Store these biscuits in an air tight container or a tin. Serve them with tea or coffee.
This recipe will be featured in our Easter Cookbook – which we plan to write and publish next year however we would like to share this recipe with you right now.
KOULOURIA GREEK EASTER BISCUITS
INGREDIENTS
- 250g soft unsalted butter
- 400g sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 200g pure cream (or thickened cream) or milk
- 1000g self raising flour – 550g, 350g plus extra for kneading
- 2 egg yolks, for brushing on biscuits
- 2 tbs olive oil, optional
STEPS
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees, fan forced.
- Beat butter (250g) and sugar (400g) for 3 minutes/speed 4. Scrape down the sides.
- Continue beating at speed 4 and add one egg at a time (4 in total). Then whilst still beating add vanilla (1/2 tsp).
- Weigh in cream or milk (200g) and beat for 1 minute/speed 5.
- Add 550g of the our and mix 30 seconds/speed 6.
- Scrape down sides then add the remaining our (350g) and mix 30 seconds/speed 6 using spatula to assist.
- Tip mixture onto silicon mat or floured bench top and knead with a little extra our until mixture comes together. The amount of our used will depend on how big the eggs were and how wet the mixture is.
- Once mixture comes together put it in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Roll dough into di erent shapes and place on a lined baking tray. Brush with beaten egg yolks (2) just before putting in oven.
- Cook in oven for about 15 – 20 minutes or until brown.
NOTES
-
- Add oil if you like a crunchy biscuit. This may change the amount of our needed when kneading on bench.
- Decorate the biscuits with sesame seeds.
- For a smaller batch, make only half the recipe.
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