Name: Kourambiedes - The Best Almond Shortbread Snowballs
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 330 grams whole almonds (skin on (1½ cups)); 340 grams unsalted butter ((just under 3 sticks)); 50 grams icing sugar ((½ cup)); 1 tsp vanilla extract; 500 grams self-raising flour ((4 cups)); 100 grams icing sugar ((1 cup))

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Almond shortbread snow balls - make these delicious kourabiedes a traditional Greek dessert

Kourambiedes are a traditional Greek dessert that is made around the holidays and one of our personal favorites!

Light and airy the ‘snow balls’ melt in your mouth. They’re made with a roasted almond shortbread and dusted with icing sugar.

As they keep for a while (they don’t contain eggs) they’re great to have laid out around the house for when family come to visit, or to enjoy with a warm cup of tea.

Kids will love them as a festive treat too.

Summary

Prep: 20 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
Ages: Toddlers to Teens
Difficulty: Intermediate
Makes: 50 small snow balls

What Are ‘Kourambiedes’?

‘Kourambiedes’ is Greek for traditional almond shortbread cookies. It’s pronounced “koo-ra-bee-ye-thes” (just in case you ever find yourself in Greece and in need of a small festive dessert!)

They are an age old recipe going back hundreds of years. Today they’re used to mark special occasions such as Christmas, baptisms and weddings. They’ve now become one of Greece’s signature holiday desserts.

What is the Secret of Good ‘Kourambiedes’?

Butter is king here. The fluffiness and the soft taste of these almond snow balls is all down to the quality of the butter.

We have used regular cow’s milk butter, as this is the easiest for us all to find. However if you are able to get hold of some high quality ‘fresh’ or ‘soft’ butter, buy it! The shortbread taste and texture changes depending on what butter you use.

Should I Use Sheep or Goat’s Butter to Make Kourambiedes?

In Greece quite a few people use sheep or goat’s butter and swear that it makes their snow ball cookies softer and fluffier.

We tested this recipe with a range of different butters. We found that sheep’s or goat’s butter made the kourabiedes softer and fluffier. However there was a bit of an aftertaste. It’s something that I didn’t mind but others found it strong and didn’t like it. For this reason we continue to recommend fresh or regular cow’s butter but feel free to try either.

There are also butters that are a mix of sheep and cow’s butter which could be a happy medium.

How to Make Kourambiedes Cookies

The key to the success of the recipe is in the beating of the butter. This is usually done using a stand mixer like the ones featured below. The butter really does need to be beaten for a good 15 minutes, until it turns white and fluffy like whipped cream.

The rest is pretty simple, so we’ll get started!

Kourambiedes – Almond Shortbread ‘Snowballs’

Ingredients

Almond shortbread cookies

330 grams whole almonds, skin on (1½ cups)
340 grams unsalted butter, softened (just under 3 sticks)
50 grams icing sugar (½ cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
500 grams self-raising flour (4 cups)

Snow topping

100 grams icing sugar for sprinkling (1 cup)

Instructions

Roast the almonds

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F fan setting (or 200°C/400°F non-fan setting).
Lay your whole almonds out onto a baking tray. Spread them out so that each one has its own space.
Toast the almonds in the oven for 8-10 minutes until slightly brown in colour. As soon as you smell roasted almonds, remove them from the oven and leave to cool. They burn quite quickly after you get those first smells coming from the oven, so remove them quickly afterwards.

Almond shortbread dough

In the meantime start to beat the butter. Make sure it is soft when you start. Place it in a stand mixer together with the 50 grams of icing sugar.
Beat for 15 minutes on a relatively high setting. This is the most important step of making ‘kourambiedes’. By then end the butter should be a white color and the consistency of whipped cream.
While the butter is being worked on you can blend your roasted almonds. Place them in a blender and blend for a good few minutes. You want them to go past breadcrumb consistency and become a paste which sticks to the sides of the blender. When they do you can scoop it off of the sides and bottom of the blender, into a mixing bowl.
Add the almonds to the whipped butter and icing sugar in the stand mixer, along with the vanilla extract.
Add your self-raising flour a bit at a time, mixing until just combined. The mixture should be crumbly. However, when you pick up a ball of it and squeeze it together in your hand, it should hold together in a lump. That’s the consistency you are looking for.

Shape into ball cookies

Preheat the oven to 180°C or 350°F fan setting (200°C or 400°F regular setting). Line two large oven trays with greaseproof baking paper or add some oil spray.
Scoop out about half a tablespoon of the mixture. Squeeze it into a ball in the palm of your hand. Gently shape it further into a ball by squeezing it between your hands. If it holds together, you can also roll them into balls between your palms. Or you could even use an ice cream scoop and compress the dough into the scoop, before releasing it onto the oven tray.
Repeat this until you’ve rolled all the dough into balls and they’re lined up on two large baking trays.
Cook on the middle shelf of the oven for just 8-10 minutes. You don’t want them to be golden (as they will be overcooked and too crumbly) so they will look slightly undercooked when you remove them and that’s fine. Set them aside to cool.

Dust with ‘snow’

Let them cool for a few minutes. Then while they’re still warm, add the first layer of icing sugar by sieving it over the almond shortbread balls.
Very gently, roll the balls around in the icing sugar until they are coated on all sides. As they’re still firming up after coming out of the oven, move them around with care so that they don’t crumble.
When they’re completely cooled you can sieve over a second layer of icing sugar to complete the snowballs. Place them on a festive serving plate to enjoy over the holidays.

Kourambiedes – Almond Shortbread ‘Snowballs’

Step by Step Guide

Roast the Almonds

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F fan setting or 200°C/400°F non-fan setting.

Lay your whole almonds out onto a large oven tray so that each one has its own space. Roast for about 10 minutes, until slightly golden.

Freshly roasted almonds add so much to the taste of these shortbread snow balls.

Beat the Butter for 15 minutes

While the almonds are roasting, you can start to prepare the butter. Make sure the butter is softened when you begin.

Place it in the bowl of a stand mixer with 50 grams of icing sugar and beat for a full 15 minutes on a relatively high setting.

By the end the butter should resemble whipped cream and be white. This step is the most important one in this recipe. It leads to the light and fluffy shortbread of these snow balls.

Blend the almonds

When your roasted almonds have cooled, place them in a mixer and blend for a few minutes.

At first they will look like breadcrumbs but keep blending until they become a sticky paste.

When they’re ready, you can scrape them off the side of the mixer.

Mix All the Ingredients to Make the Almond Shortbread Dough

Add your ground almonds and vanilla extract to the whipped butter and icing sugar. Stir them in gently.

Add the self-raising flour a bit at a time. It’s good to check the consistency and adjust the flour accordingly. The dough should be crumbly but when you pick up a piece and squeeze it in your palm, it should hold together.

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F fan setting (or 200°C/400°F non-fan setting). Either grease two large oven trays or line them with baking paper.

Shape the Dough into Balls

Take a small amount of mixture (about a half tablespoon) and squeeze it into a ball with your hand.

Gently shape it into a round sphere by continuing to squeeze it between your hands. Depending on how sticky your mixture is you may be able to roll them into round balls between the palms of your hands. If not just gently mould them into a round shape.

Another way to shape the dough into balls is to use an ice cream scoop and to press the mixture firmly into it. It helps if the scoop has a spring too so that you can ping the ball out easily.

Bake your Shortbread Balls

Line up all the almond ball cookies onto two baking trays and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes. They don’t need long.

Remove from the oven as soon as they’re done. The tops will look firm but not golden in color – so they could seem slightly undercooked.

Remove them anyway as they will firm up outside the oven as well. If you cook them until they’re browned you risk overcooking them and they could end up cracking and crumbling.

Add the ‘Snow’

Let the balls sit for a few minutes.

Then sieve over the first layer of icing sugar. You can gently roll the balls around in the sugar so that it sticks to their sides, but be careful as they’re still a little crumbly when they first come out of the oven.

When they’re cooled you can second layer of icing sugar using a sieve.

Choose a Festive Platter

Carefully lay them out on a serving dish. Or pile them up into a snowball pile for family and friends to grab and enjoy.

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5 from 9 votes

Kourambiedes – The Best Almond Shortbread Snowballs

These almond shorbread snow balls are based on a traditional Greek recipe for kourambiedes. They are light and fluffy they melt in your mouth and leave you with a full flavour of roasted almonds, with the airiness of the light shortbread.

Course Dessert

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings small almond snow balls

Author Mas & Pas