MELIZ COOKS CHRISTMAS – MINCE PIE KURABIYE

Mince Pie Kurabiye

It’s the final dish in my series of Christmas cooks with Blossom Avenue, and we’re finishing off with this wonderfully festive version of Cypriot Kurabiye.

Kurabiye are the ultimate celebration cookie and their buttery, soft texture with almonds and lightly scented rose water make them the perfect treat, and I have put my own festive spin on them for you – by filling them with spiced, oozy, indulgent mincemeat!

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Ingredients:

(Makes 12)

150g almonds

250g unsalted butter, softened

125g icing sugar

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp rose water

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

420g plain flour

150g mincemeat

200g icing sugar for coating

Method:

Preheat oven to 170C (fan). Once hot, roast the almonds on a baking tray lined with baking paper for 8-10 mins then take out and place the almonds on a dish or plate to cool. Keep the tray lined with baking paper to one side, line another tray with baking paper too (the cookies are big, so you’ll need both trays) and leave the oven on.

Now, with an electric whisk, beat together the butter and the sugar for a few minutes until really pale, light and fluffy. Add the eggs, beat, then the rose water and vanilla, then the cinnamon and baking powder until mixed well.

Blitz the roasted almonds in the food processor (they shouldn’t be fully ground, but more a mix of slightly ground and roughly chopped, as the little chunks of almonds as a lovely crunch and texture) then add them to the mixture, along with the flour and combine everything together with your hands. The dough will be sticky once combined, but that’s exactly what you want for a lovely, buttery, crumbly texture once cooked. Wash your hands ready to shape the kurabiye.

This mixture will make 12 large kurabiye (the size handed out at weddings), so take a piece of dough, slightly bigger than a golf ball, and flatten it slightly in the palm of your hand. Pop 1 tsp of the mincemeat in the middle, bring up the sides of the dough and start to seal the kurabiye, ensuring no mincemeat oozes out, using a little extra dough to seal completely, shaping them into ovals, very slightly pointed at the ends. Lay the kurabiye on the tray lined with baking paper and repeat this for the 11 remaining kurabiye.

Place the kurabiye into a preheated oven 170C fan for 18-20 mins until very lightly golden. They will still be soft when you take the trays out so don’t try and remove them from the trays immediately. Once cooled a little, pop them onto large cold plates.

Fill a large, deep baking tray with around 200g of icing sugar and once the kurabiye have cooled completely, pop them, one by one, gently in the icing sugar and coat and cover them liberally with the lovely, sweet powder. Place on a nice platter to serve or wrap them up to hand out as gifts.