This Chocolate Kourabiedes with almonds (Greek butter cookies) recipe combines the traditional, authentic snowball Kourabiedes with chocolate! Kourabiedes or Kourampiethes are the most traditional Greek Christmas cookie with a Greek Christmas platter not being complete without a tower of these delicious cookies!
What are Kourabiethes?
Kourabiedes are Greek short bread cookies filled with toasted almonds and covered in powdered sugar. They are crumbly buttery biscuits with a crunchy almond bite and sprinkled with rose water. These chocolate kourabiedes with almonds ( Greek butter cookies) still have the same crumbly buttery texture and crunchy nutty bite but with added mouthwatering chocolate! While the traditional kourabiedes are covered with tons of icing sugar, these are covered by copious amounts of cocoa.
Secrets making these chocolate kourabiedes with almonds (Greek butter cookies)
The secrests to preparing these melt in the mouth chocolate kourabiedes with almonds (Greek butter cookies) is to use the finest ingredients.
Clarified butter
Kourampiethes get their crumbly texture from the butter so it is imperative to use the finest quality butter. Choose a butter high in fat content and at least 80%. Moreover, the delicious buttery taste relies not only on the butter quality but also because it is clarified.
How do you clarify butter? While it is fairly simple process, it can be a bit time consuming but the end result is worth it. To clarify butter, dice it and place it in a saucepan and let it melt over low heat. Do not be tempted to turn up the heat as the butter will burn. Once the butter has melted, you will notice foam forming on top. Remove this with a spoon. Let the butter cool down for a few minutes and strain it with a wire mesh and a cheesecloth.
To save time, I usually clarify a couple of butter blocks and store them in jars in the fridge so I can use them in my bakings. As the clarifying process removes the milk solids and thus you will end up with slightly less butter, so make sure you have added enough from the beginning. You will end up with 20% less butter, though this clarified butter will have a much superior taste. Thus, for 100gr clarified butter, start the process with 120gr butter.
Cocoa
Get the finest quality cocoa powder to enrich the chocolate flavour of your kourampiethes.
Almonds
Toast your almonds to 160C or 320F for 8 minutes or so to make your almonds crunchier and nuttier.
Chocolate kourabiedes with almonds (Greek butter cookies) dough
To prepare your chocolate kourabiedes dough, start by sifting the flour, cocoa and powdered sugar together. Unsifted cocoa will be lumpy and will not be evenly incorporated into the flour.
The chocolate Kourabiedes dough will be very crumbly and it will not be possible to shape them. I use a spoon and transfer equal dough portions into a parchment lined baking tray.
Baking chocolate kourabiedes
Bake the chocolate kourabiedes initially at 180C or 356F for 10-12 minutes and then lower the heat to 160C or 320F and continue to bake for a further 10-15 minutes. Baking time will depend on the size of the chocolate kourampiethes. Make sure you do not over-bake the chocolate kourabiedes, ie no more than 30 minutes in the oven.
The chocolate kourabiedes will be ready once they lift off the parchment paper. Don’t forget to let the chocolate kourabiedes with almonds (Greek butter cookies) cool down so that the butter solidifies. This will make the kourabiedes better to handle.
Decorating chocolate kourabiedes
There are many options to decorate these melt in the mouth chocolate Kourabiedes with sifted cocoa, powdered (icing) sugar or melted chocolate. Simply melt good quality dark chocolate with a little bit of butter (cube size) and drizzle them.
Other Christmas recipes
Looking for more Greek Christmas recipes? Try my authentic and homemade Kourabiedes (Greek almond Christmas cookies). Kourabiedes go hand in hand with Melomakarona, walnut biscuits dunked in aromatic syrup, so be sure to try my Melomakarona recipe (without semolina).
Are you vegan? Then try out my vegan kourabiedes recipe!
