baking with yiayia.

i spent a day with my yiayia (grandmom) this past week, making koulouria. they are a greek pastry/biscuit made for Easter. i had never made them before or even really paid attention to her making them. i just loved eating them after they were finished. yes i am guilty of that. they are one of my favorite cookies. this year i wanted to make them with her and remember the recipe so i will always have it. 

besides the fact that it is quite difficult to bake with an old lady who has been doing it a certain way for years and years and decides to watch exactly how you are doing it, while yelling out that you are doing it wrong, it was a lot of fun : )

now we have a house full of koulouria, which means i will be eating these for breakfast for a while.

i decided to share our version of this delicious recipe with you all because they are too good to not share : )

ingredients: note: (this is for a large large batch of cookies)

10 eggs

4 sticks of butter

2 cups of sugar

10 tsp of baking powder

1 squeezed lemon

3 tsp of baking soda

3 tsp of vanilla

1 shot glass of brandy

6 cups or so of flour

1. with an electric mixer: cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla

2. add baking powder to mixture while still mixing

3. add shot of brandy to mixture, keep mixing

4. add 3 tsp of baking soda to the lemon juice (that was squeezed) over the mixture and let it sink in to the mixture while still mixing

5. with the electric mixer keep mixing for an addiional 5-10 minutes

6. after everything is well blended into a thick cream-like mixture, begin adding the flour while continuing to mix. 

7.  keep adding the flour until a dough begins to form and then afterwards put the dough into a clean bowl and let it sit for 30 minutes to rise. 

8. while the dough is rising, beat 1 egg into a bowl (for the topping of the cookies)

9. afterwards, bring the dough onto a non-stick surface. begin taking small pieces rolling them out and shaping into a circle or a twist formation (featured above)

10. after they are placed on a non-stick pan, brush the beaten egg mixture on the tops of each cookie

11. place them in the oven (350 degrees) for about 20 minutes, until they begin to brown on top. 

voila : )

it is a lengthy recipe, but so delicious : ) and i have some good memories and laughs to go with it.

xoxo