Sesame Koulourakia (Biscuits)

evelyn/athens's Note:

This is a kind of biscuit made in Greece with baking ammonia - I believe you can find this in drugstores in North America. Light and high-rising, not too sweet. A rather 'plain' kind of biscuit that is well-suited for dunking in coffee or tea. The number of biscuits I mention is arbitrary. It really depends on the shapes you're making and how large or small you make them.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 6 dozen

• 12 ounces butter , softened
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk , lukewarm (8 oz)
• 2 teaspoons baking ammonia
• 2 lbs flour , sifted, and a bit extra
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 ¼ cups sesame seeds (315 gr = 12 oz)

Directions:

1. Cream butter with sugar until fluffy and quite pale-coloured (about 5-6 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time. Dissolve baking ammonia in the milk and add milk to the butter/egg mixture.
2. Add the flour, baking powder and vanilla and mix until you have a pliable dough that doesn't stick to the sides of the mixing bowl (you may need to add a bit more flour as this recipe is from metric and actually calls for a kilo of flour which equals 2.2 lbs).
3. Shape the dough into whatever shapes you desire. In Greece, we shape it into rings, snails, Ss, braids - you are only limited by your imagination. Do try to keep the shape down to a size that will comfortably fit into your coffee cup for dunking though - and remember - they'll puff up in baking. Brush shapes with water and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds. Place on greased cookie sheets, or parchment-lined cookie sheets, or silpat.
4. Bake in a preheated 375F (180C) oven for 15-20 moinutes, or until golden-brown.
5. Store in an airtight container.
6. Note: If you can find a 'soft' flour, suited for pastry-making, you'll have a more authentic koulouraki.

Reviews

[justcallmetoni]

Wonderful cookie and a welcome addition to my holiday trays. I made a half batch and made my cookies a bit smaller to more easily fit into tins. The baking time for this size was about 13 minutes and yielded four dozen. The cookies are light and airy and not at all sweet with a nice nuttiness from the seasame seeds. As the previous review suggested I chilled the dough for two hours and found it to be very easy to work with. Also, used 1:1 part baking soda and baking powder to replace the ammonia. Wouldn't change athing here as the cookies were delicious. Thanks ev!

[Rita~]

Ev, I must say I screwed up big time! I read 2 cups of flour (thats what I get when I don`t use my glasses) So as making I knew this was wrong I added 3-4 cups more and should have added more. But at this time I didn`t know it was me that read it wrong! I baked and then checked the recipe again!!! Hit my head!!! It`s 2 POUNDS!!!!! I do have a scale and it`s just to small to weight and see how much it would have been. So now I went on line and to my amazement it`s anywhere from 6-10 cups!!! But all things aside these bisscuits ended up very good! The first batch I did try to shape and they just came out very thin BUT tasty. The next batch I just placed on the cookie sheet pan and they puffed up nice. I surely will make these again. I just hope I won`t be disappointed when I add more flour because they were buttery good, Airy light, nicely browned on the bottom and tender soft inside, and oh I want to go into the kitchen for an other right now............................ Just a suggestion you may want to chill the dough for an hour so they are easier to work with and you`ll have more rise to them. I never used baking ammonia before and this to made me uneasy. It does smell like ammonia but there is no taste or smell of it after baking. I found it in my local Mediterranean Store. Thanks for the extra weight! LOL!