Orange & Almond “Gurabiye” (Kurabiye - Celebration Cookies)

When I was younger, one of my fondest food memories, was coming back from a Turkish-Cypriot wedding with a cellophane wrapped “gurabiye” - a short, crumbly celebration cookie loaded with nuts and icing sugar which we also handed out at our own wedding, almost 15 years ago! Here, I’ve given the more traditional recipe some beautiful citrus notes with the addition of grated orange zest and fresh orange juice. Please make it. 

INGREDIENTS 

 

150g almonds

Zest + juice of 1 small orange 

1/4 tsp cinnamon 

250g unsalted butter, softened 

125g icing sugar

1 large egg yolk

2 tbsp tbsp orange blossom water

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 tsp baking powder

375g plain flour

50g cornflour

200g icing sugar for coating

METHOD

Preheat oven to 170°c (fan) / 190°c conventional. Once hot, roast the almonds on a baking tray for 8 minutes 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.

Once the almonds have cooled, blitz them 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 a mixing bowl and stir through the ground cinnamon and orange zest. 

Now, in the food processor, beat together the butter and 125g icing sugar on high for a few minutes until pale, light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, then 1 tbsp of the orange blossom water and vanilla and mix until fluffy. Add the orange juice, blitz again and add to the bowl of chopped almonds. Add the plain flour, cornflour and baking powder to the bowl and mix together with a large spoon. The mixture will be a little sticky but that’s exactly what you want for a lovely, buttery, crumbly texture once cooked. Wet your hands with a little cold water, ready to shape the kurabiye.

This mixture will make around 15 kurabiye, so take a piece of dough, slightly bigger than a golf ball, then shape them into ovals, very slightly rounded at the ends. Lay the kurabiye on the tray lined with baking paper, and repeat this for the remaining kurabiye. Using the back of a fork, lightly scrape from the top to the bottom of each kurabiye to make long fork shaped indents in the dough. 

Place the kurabiye into the 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 the additional of icing sugar and once the kurabiye have cooled completely, brush them with the remaining orange blossom water, then pop each one gently in the icing sugar and coat and cover them liberally with the lovely sweet powder. These store well in sealed Tupperware boxes for up to 5 days.