This year I decided to test two recipes. The first recipe is from The Complete Middle East Cookbook by Tess Mallos. My mum used this book as her reference cookbook for lots of Cypriot recipes. Mainly the ones you do once a year.

Makes 40; Cooking time: 20 minutes; Oven: 160C or 325 F.
1 cup unsalted butter
3 Tablespoons icing sugar sifted
1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon brandy
1/2 cup finely chopped roasted almonds (optional)
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Cloves and 2 cups icing sugar to decorate finished biscuits

Directions:
1. Melt butter until bubbles subside and sediment is golden brown – do not burn. Pour oiled butter and sediment into mixing bowl. Wait until butter has solidified before attempting the next step.
2. Add first quantity of icing sugar and beat on electrix mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk and brandy and beat well.
3. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in almonds if used. Sift flour and baking powder twice and mix lightly into butter mixture. knead by hand until smooth.
4. Break off small pieces the size of a large walnut. Shape into crescents, or roll into balls, place on a flat surface and pinch tops twice, making four indentations and at the same time flattening them slightly.
5. Insert cloves in the top of each biscuit, and place on ungreased baking sheets.
6. Bake in a modertely slow oven for 20 minutes or until lightly coloured. Do not brown. Leave to cool on tray for 10 minutes.
7. Sift icing sugar over waxed paper and lift warm biscuits onto this. Sift more icing sugar on top and sides.
8. When cool, place in a container and sift remaining sugar on top of biscuits. Seal and store for 2 days before using to improve flavour.
9. When serving, place each in a small paper cup cake container.
Note: The melting and light browning of the butter is not traditional but it does give a delightful flavour to the biscuits. Many excellent Greek cooks use this method, but omit this step if you wish.

My opinion:

The preparation time with the melted butter took too much time to do and then wait for the butter to solidify. The final biscuits were a bit heavy for my taste. The result was still the traditional Kourabiethes. You should try this for yourself to see how it works for you.

The picture below is the chopped almonds. 

1/2 cup icing sugar sifted
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 Tablespoon brandy
3/4 cup roasted hazelnuts finely chopped
3cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup icing sugar to decorate finished biscuits


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to moderate 180C. Using electric beaters, beat butter and sugar in a small mixing bowl until light and creamy. Add yolk, beat well. Add vanilla essences and brandy; beat until combined.
2. Transfer mixture to large mixing bowl; add nuts, baking powder and flour. Working quickly, use hands to press ingredients together to form a soft dough. Do not knead.
3. Shape 2 teaspoons of mixture at a time into a crescent shape. Repeat with the remaining mixture. Place crescents into ungreased biscuit tray about 4 cm apart. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove, cool on tray.
4. When cool, dust biscuits liberally with icing sugar. Serve shortbread with Greek coffee.

My opinion:
These took less time to prepare and the mixture was lighter, resulting in a lighter biscuit.
  

Final result: I used almonds for both recipes and they all tasted great and no one complained about the biscuits. Both recipes are easy to make for novice cooks who want a yummy biscuits.
PS: Don’t breath in or out when you eat these. Icing sugar can be tricky 🙂