Easter is one week away and I thought I’d share a recipe of one of my favorite Greek cookies: Kontovazaina-style Koulouria.
Kontovazaina is the village high in the mountains in the Peloponnese that my mother and her ancestors were born in. This is my grandmother, or Yia yia’s, recipe, adapted to modern American kitchens.
This cookie is not like most Greek sweets that Americans have encountered; it’s not covered with honey syrup, or powdered sugar and it’s not laden with butter and nuts. It is somewhat reminiscent of a cinnamon graham cracker. It is a humble cookie that tastes delicious dunked in a cold glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee.
Throughout most of Greece another, more popular, vanilla butter-cookie version of Koulouria is made. My Yia yia’s version is still my favorite.
One advantage to this version is how healthy it is. Olive oil is one of the healthiest oils that you can consume. Use whatever version of olive oil that you like; It won’t taste funny. It was the only oil available for many generations in Greece and they used it successfully.
As to the flour, I used unbleached white, but you can use whole wheat flour as well. Kontovazaina cooks traditionally used the “best” flour that they could afford. Ironically, the wealthy and upper class ate the least healthy, white flour. Now we know better.
The yeast traditionally used was a dough starter, or piece of dough saved from your last batch. Modern commercial yeast works much quicker. In the old days, sometimes they would have to let their dough rise all night in order to make their risen breads and sweets.
This cookie is so humble that you might think that it could eaten during Lent. Not so. The Greek Orthodox Church does not allow the consumption of olive oil during Lent. (Interestingly, olives are allowed during Lent.)
I wish you all Happy Easter!
Καλό πάσχα!
Kontovazaina-Style Koulouria
- Spiced Easter Cookies made with Olive Oil
4 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 pkg Yeast
¼ teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
½ teaspoon Cloves
½ cup Olive Oil
Warm Water
Mix all the dry ingredients. Add the olive oil. Mix with fingers until crumbly. Add enough warm water to make a soft dough. Knead dough until smooth and elastic. If necessary add a little more flour (or liquid) until the dough is not too sticky and will handle easily without breaking.
Pinch off small rounds of dough and roll into uniform-thickness rod shapes. Ours are usually 5-6 inches long, but it doesn’t really matter exactly; Just make sure that the rods are all about the same thickness in the batch so that they cook evenly. Shape into a donut shape and use your finger to press one end down onto the other. If you’d like, make other shapes such as a curled up “s” or a spiral.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes on a well-greased cookie sheet (with olive oil, of course!) The longer they cook, the crunchier they will be - perfect for dunking into milk or coffee. Just make sure that they don’t burn on the bottoms; These cookies will lift up easily from the cookie sheet in order to check without breaking.
Because there are no eggs or butter in these cookies, they store for a long time - if they last! Just seal them up in a bag or a jar after they’ve cooled down.
This recipe made 32 cookies for me.
4 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 pkg Yeast
¼ teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
½ teaspoon Cloves
½ cup Olive Oil
Warm Water
Mix all the dry ingredients. Add the olive oil. Mix with fingers until crumbly. Add enough warm water to make a soft dough. Knead dough until smooth and elastic. If necessary add a little more flour (or liquid) until the dough is not too sticky and will handle easily without breaking.
Pinch off small rounds of dough and roll into uniform-thickness rod shapes. Ours are usually 5-6 inches long, but it doesn’t really matter exactly; Just make sure that the rods are all about the same thickness in the batch so that they cook evenly. Shape into a donut shape and use your finger to press one end down onto the other. If you’d like, make other shapes such as a curled up “s” or a spiral.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes on a well-greased cookie sheet (with olive oil, of course!) The longer they cook, the crunchier they will be - perfect for dunking into milk or coffee. Just make sure that they don’t burn on the bottoms; These cookies will lift up easily from the cookie sheet in order to check without breaking.
Because there are no eggs or butter in these cookies, they store for a long time - if they last! Just seal them up in a bag or a jar after they’ve cooled down.
This recipe made 32 cookies for me.
The crumbly flour/oil stage.
The dough before kneading.
