Kourabiedes Recipe - Greek Butter Cookies - Cook Like A Greek (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular cookie in Greece? ›

The most famous Greek cookies

Kourabiedes, also known as “Greek Wedding Cookies” (in some regions, they are served at special occasions such as weddings or christenings), are Greek biscuits or cookies that resemble light and airy shortbread, but are made with the addition of almonds.

Kourabiedes (singular kourabies), the other Greek Christmas staple, originated from Turkey, where they are called kurabiye. In Turkish etymology, the word is from the root “kuru” (dry) and “biye” (biscuit). It is a rounded butter cookie with pieces of almond inside, the entire outside covered in powdered sugar.

Greek cookies go all the way back to 1200 BC, when women and bakers found it to be very hard to locate special baking supplies and ingredients to make sweets. They used their standard foods like flour, butter, honey, olive oil, lemon, sugar and strong spices derived from area farms to create their cookies and sweets.

Melomakarona are soft and moist, flavored with classic holiday spices and soaked in honey syrup. Kourabiedes, meanwhile, are tender, delicate, and covered in piles of powdered sugar. Below you'll find our recipes for Greece's most popular holiday treats, made with some of our favorite ingredients from Navarino Icons.

Pizzelles are the oldest known cookie and originated in the mid-section of Italy. They were made many years ago for the “Festival of the Snakes” also known as the “Feast Day of San Domenico”.

Kourabiedes are Greek almond cookies that are buttery beyond words! This shortbread is kissed with orange blossom water and covered in a flurry of powdered sugar.

Why are Kourabiedes crescent-shaped? Legend has it that during the Turkish occupation of Greece, all Kourabiedes had to be made crescent-shaped in honour of the Turkish flag.

Kourabiedes are known outside of Greece as a cookie, but they are almost too substantial to be called a cookie. They are a shortbread type of sweet, made of flour, sugar, butter and almonds and covered with powdered sugar, which make them look like a snowball.

Kourabiedes first appeared in Persia in the 7th century shortly after the use of sugar became relatively common in the area, with the word kourabie derived from the Iranian and Azerbaijani word 'qurabiya'.

This cookie based on flour and sheep butter must have been “born” the 7th century in Persia, birth place of sugar as well. Kourabies became known to the peoples of the Balkans and Turkey, where we find it to this day.

Where did kourabiedes come from? ›

The Greek word "kourabiedes" comes from the Turkish word kurabiye, which is related to qurabiya, a family of Middle Eastern cookies. In Cyprus, they are often given as gifts to wedding attendees after the ceremony.

Try kantaifi, baklava, galaktompoureko, roxakia from Macedonia, ravani, samali, gianniotiko, klostari from Epirus, bourekia, trigona panoramatos, saragli, ekmek, walnut pie, yogurt pie and so many more… Our suggestion: Enjoy them while sipping a Greek coffee slowly brewed on hot sand, sided by a vanilla ice cream.

Oreos are a sandwich cookie consisting of two chocolate wafers with a sweet cream filling in between. They have been popular in the United States since their introduction in 1912 and have since become a global phenomenon.