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{Gluten-Free} Kourabiedes for Gabey


Every year we head to the Greek Festival with one of my best friends, Jenn, and her boys. This year was no different. It's always on Labor Day weekend, but we didn't get to go until Monday...and they had run out of a lot of the food items. 

All through lunch, Gabey was excited about going to the pasty booth and getting kourabiedes. They've always been his favorite. This was him at the festival four years ago! I love that powdered sugar nose!


When we finally made it to the pastry booth, they had sold out. We went to the second pastry booth, hoping they still had some. No luck. Gabey was more than a little distraught. So, I did what all good aunties do - I offered to bake some for him! He still thought it was the worst day ever.


I have made a version of these before - using my friend's recipe - but I needed to make them gluten-free this time around and decided to experiment with some other flavors. I made three versions this time!


Ingredients makes approximately 5 to 6 dozen cookies
  • 1 pound butter, room temperature
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 t  pure almond extract
  • 1 t pure vanilla extract, lemon extract, or licorice liqueur* (I was out of Ouzo, so I used Sambuca)
  • 8 tablespoons powdered sugar + 1 to 2 C more for rolling/serving
  • ⅛ t  baking soda
  • 4 ½ C gluten-free flour
  • 1 C hazelnut flour
  • pinch of salt


*Once I had the dough combined, I split it into thirds for this round. To one batch, I added vanilla; to the second batch, I added lemon extract; and to the third batch, I added Sambuca and 1/2 t whole anise seeds.


Procedure
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat butter until lightened and fluffy. Add egg and almond extract, beat until well-combined. Sift powdered sugar and baking soda into the butter-egg mixture. Add flours a little bit at a time until completely incorporated.

This is where I divided the dough into thirds and blended the dough together with a fork, mixing in the additional flavor of lemon extract, vanilla, and Sambuca. If the dough was too sticky, I added a little bit more flour.

To form, roll about 1 to 2 tablespoons of dough into circles or crescents and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. These cookies don't expand, so you don't need to space them very far apart. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned and firm.

Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Move them to a wire rack and let cool completely.


Place powdered sugar to a rimmed dish and add 3 to 4 to it. Very gently roll the cookies to coat with sugar.

Enjoy! My trio surely did...

I delivered two wrapped up for Gabey's lunchbox this morning and handed a container to Jenn with about 6 to 8 of each kind. I hope they like them.

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