Greek Butter Cookies | Koulourakia

What Does Koulourakia Mean?

The name koulourakia (pronounced ku-LU-ra-KA) translates to “little koulouria”.

Koulouria (whose name comes from its round shape) are sweet, bready rings that can be served at dinner or as a street food.

Koulourakia, on the other hand are a much smaller, butter cookie that are hand rolled and shaped into fun twisted designs.

They traditionally have an egg glaze and are topped with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

Authentic Greek Easter Cookies

You might be wondering if these are authentic or traditional Greek butter cookies?

I asked our dear neighbors (who happen to be Greek) to taste test the cookies, asking for honest feedback. This is what they said:

• The Koulourakia they’ve made and eaten are much smaller in size (but they loved this size)
• They are typically more dry (they use them for dunking)
• Texture and flavor were delicious
• Like many traditional ethnic recipes, there are hundreds of variations passed down from generation to generation over the years
• Spices were just right
• They gave them a 10 out of 10!

Ingredients

• Water | I used filtered water
• Cinnamon sticks | I use cinnamon sticks in various recipes, so I buy them in bulk.
• Salted butter | The real deal, if it is soft coming out of the fridge, it’s not real butter
• Cane sugar |I used unbleached all natural cane sugar
• Vanilla extract | the pure stuff, make your own vanilla and stop paying the high prices!
• Cake flour | I happened to have a box of Swan’s in my freezer* but would have preferred to use White Pastry Flour, mainly because it’s unbleached.
• All-Purpose Flour | I use this one the most often as I buy in bulk from Costco
• Eggs | I always use large eggs in my baking, typically free range
• Baking Powder | just a touch, original European recipes used baking ammonia (or ammonium bicarbonate) which is not used very often, it is a traditional leavening agent, which we replace 1:1 with baking powder.

FRESH COOKY TIP | Keep specialty and whole grain flours, grains and rice in the fridge or freezer; the higher levels of natural oils in these products causes them to go rancid quicker at room temperature. Typically it extends their shelf life in the fridge to 6 months and freezer up to a year.

Cinnamon Water Reduction

I loved that Mimi’s recipe has a secret ingredient, what I am calling a cinnamon water reduction.

Koulourakia Dough

This dough is soft, pliable and a tiny bit sticky, like a traditional sugar cookie dough or similar to my Frosted Sugar Cookie Bar dough.

Using your hands or a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop (makes the cookies come out pretty evenly) scoop a generous heaping portion of dough (about 1.5 oz or 45 grams) and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.

Roll into ball and then into about 7″ long ropes, form a “U” shape, then cross one side over the other and twist twice. Place twists onto parchment lined baking sheet, one inch a part.

Bake at 375F.

Check out the full recipe at www.thefreshcooky.com and search Koulourakia.