Tuesday, 27 August 2013

Kurabiye Crescents {Almond Shortbread}

This is such a wedding biscuit. Look at it! All covered and tossed in icing sugar when it’s still warm, making the first layer of sugar go this warm yellowy colour that kind of tastes like almond buttercream.

This is the best traditional biscuit ever ever ever, ever.


The real Kurabiye came from Azerbaijan, but thousands of years later; there is a traditional Kurabiya biscuit for Turkey, Greece, Spain, Texas, Mexico, Bulgaria and basically the whole of Eastern Europe. If that doesn’t indicate how moreish these crescents are then I must be living on another planet.
So I made these with mum, after decapitating a chocolate peanut butter cake with a cranked spatula. She guided me all the way through to the crescent moulding, at which point she gave up, mainly because she’s used to making her Kurabiye’s look like vaginas.

Anyway, I am extremely excited to be sharing this recipe with you, it has been lingering in our family forever and I have finally shared our version! Mum’s recipe has always kicked buttery ass you see, how many daughters have you heard say that? So I have written the method precisely as we made them for exactness to whoever decides to make them, and as a keepsake. Mum’s mum passed this recipe on to her, I think, in hope that she would probably make them in wedding’s to come (they never came). 
Don’t be fooled by the mundane appearance of the ingredient list. It’s all about the ratio baby, aaand the different-ish taste of vanilla powder mixed in with the chopped almonds. If you don’t have vanilla powder, I recommend leaving it out completely, unless you want to turn your Kurabiye’s into flat out shortbread.

Cos my mum daren't have faith in the metric system, I measured the sugar and oil in the same Turkish coffee cup, this is probably how its done in the whole of the Med and America. I know I know, Pierre hdsuhdjkshdf wouldn’t agree, but it works magic.
Obviously I haaaaave to mention this before I go off for another week: There are only 4 days left to vote in the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards!! Oh my loooorrrrdy! Vomit vomit vomit VOMIT. Obviously, I would mega MEGA appreciate it if you could vote for me, that’s if you think I deserve it, not just because I am begging or anything, that would OBVIOUSLY be taking it way too far…hah..


Kurabiye Crescents {Almond Shortbread}

Ingredients

Makes 22 large Kurabiyes

1 egg, large
55g caster sugar 
67g groundnut/flavourless oil 
2 tsp vanilla powder
250g unsalted butter, softened 
270g plain flour, sifted (+ extra if needed)
100g flaked almonds, chopped
350g icing sugar

The Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugar together until incorporated, about 30 seconds. The mixture should still be yellow, not pale. Whilst creaming, add the egg, oil, sugar and vanilla powder. Mix for 30 seconds, there should still be lumps in the mixture. Stop of the mixture and sift in half the flour. Mix the flour in with your hands by going in with your fists. Mix the rest of the flour in with your hands, and then all of the almonds, try not to over mix. If the mixture still feels wet, add 2 tbsp extra flour, more if needed. You should eventually arrive at a dough that is not too greasy, that can be moulded into shape. 

Take a golf ball sized piece of dough and roll into a 10cm sausage with the palms of your hands. Arch the sausage into a 'horn' and place on the baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough, the horns should be spaced 2cm apart. 

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the bottoms of the biscuits are evenly golden. Pour the icing sugar into a bowl. Leave to cool on  the sheets for 5 minutes. Immerse each biscuit into icing sugar and toss around until fully covered. Leave to cool. The biscuits will stay fresh for 3 days if kept covered.
Do you have your own variation of the Kurabiye biscuit? Please share it with me!

Love Em xx

3 comments:

  1. I first had these in Turkey and haven't been able to stop thinking about them since. I'm OBSESSED, and they are very hard to find around here. Tell your mom thank you for sharing her recipe (and thanks to you too!).

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  2. Thank you Nora! You have to try this recipe, if you;re wondering about the vanilla powder, try a european speciality store, they're sure to have it :) x

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  3. wow it looks so delicous! thanks for this recipe.I want to suggest a good addres for voucher discount codes in UK.I hope that i will be useful for you :)
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