Greek Christmas Filled Cookies

Cookies/Finikia/Melomakarona, a recipe from the East full of aromas and memories of lost homelands! Stuffed, traditional, Lenten and syrupy cookies.
The syruping is done in a saucepan and while the syrup is kept warm on a very low heat.
We prepare Finikia, which are consumed during the Lenten days before Christmas but also as a sweet delicacy for Christmas and New Year's Day along with the other Christmas desserts of the Twelve Days, such as Melomakarona, Kourabiedes, hills of fried honeyed Diples fragrant and fluffy Vasilopites! And even Isli, Christmas Bread, Kouloures, New Year's Loukoumades, Pancakes and other local sweets, festive, symbolic and ritual, that are prepared in every corner of Greece.
Yours!

Merry Christmas 2024! 🎄
Happy Holidays!

work: 1h:00′

time: 1h:30′

easy:

Chinese Almond Cookies

These cookies are the traditional and easiest dessert to celebrate Chinese New Year, the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It does not have a fixed date, in 2022 it was February 1 and the celebrations lasted 15 days.
As familiar as its ingredients are to us, it is nevertheless one of the most popular Chinese Pastries. They are made in every home and everyone contributes with them to the Chinese New Year Table. They are very easy to make and complete in less than 30 minutes. It is even said that they bring good luck in the New Year!
Super simple and clean materials that you probably already have in your closet. They are crunchy and buttery with a small amount of almond or vanilla extract and definitely a favorite in the crowd, young and old. In ours I replaced the sugar with Stevia, you choose what you like.

Good & Lucky Chinese New Year in the Year of the Tiger!

work: 15′

time: 30′

very easy:

Greek Easter Cookies

Easter Cookies/ Biscuits -and not only Easter- with a different approach but with all the aromas of Greek Easter, such as Chios Mastic, Mahlepi, Kakoule (Cardamom) and the aroma of orange.
Light, tasty, soft, digestible and special. They are made very easily with their wonderfully velvety dough, which is given by the addition of pure yogurt and the light corn oil. They are relatively sweet with a little sugar added because our opinion is that this is how a cookie should be in order for a savory platter of cheeses and cold cuts to accompany our drink.

Happy Easter!

work: 1h:20′

time: 2h:30′

easy:

Parmesan Cookies

Savory miniature cookies with lacy edges and unique taste. The savory Parmesan cookies, a small "luxury" of taste, are perfect as an appetizer or a wonderful snack / accompaniment for our favorite drink, whatever it is. They are small, they are addictive, they are a bite, they are made quickly and easily, with minimal ingredients and within 20 minutes we enjoy them. Of the few recipes, that something is so rich in taste and with so few ingredients.
I promise you, once you make them once you will want to repeat them soon…
Yours!

work: 10′

time: 20′

very easy:

Lemon-Flavored Yogurt Jelly

Refrigerating dessert with Greek natural yogurt, lemon jelly & cookies stuffed with lemon flavor. 5 hours later we enjoy a healthy low-calorie lemony yogurt. A delicious dessert like this, made by all moms, with cookies of different flavors, rusks, savoiardi-biscuits or any kind of seasonal fruit or jams . Here with crispy filled cookies on the base and crumbled on top and a nice velvety cream with lemon zest & yogurt jelly.
Yours!

work: 20′

time: 5h:30′

very easy:

Yogurt Cookies

Yogurt Biscuits are delicious little butterless sweets, with vanilla pudding mix and of course Greek yogurt. They are easy to make and you can enjoy them for breakfast or as a snack. They are ideal for milk, coffee or a cup of good aromatic tea because they are soft, tender, velvety - almost infantile - and very tasty, with a seductive vanilla & lemon aroma.
Their preparation is very simple: we only need a bowl and a spoon and in a few minutes the dough will be ready to be baked… another reason to prepare it right away!
If you're looking for other biscuit recipes or other breakfast cakes, don't miss the cookie options and easy sweets of Kitchen Stories!
Yours!

work: 10′

time: 30′

very easy:

Amigthalota-Greek Almond Biscuits

A very easy dessert with minimal fats, without butter & with minimal ingredients. Almonds ground as the main ingredient and egg whites, beaten in a meringue. Flavored with mastic of Chios Island and cherry liqueur. Their top is decorated with almond flakes and a candied cherry to give them their color, to make them more attractive.
One of the best, traditional delicacies is the almond cookies. The shape, as well as their aromas, vary from place to place. Almonds biscuits are generally made from whitened ground almonds or marzipan, egg whites meringue, and sometimes even semolina. They have pear, rosette, small hill, ball, crescent, etc. shapes.
Sometimes they are sprinkled with powdered sugar and become pure white, and sometimes they remain with the roasted almond crumb visible. The most famous are probably those from the island of Andros, where there is a traditional local industry. The Almond Biscuits of Andros are flavored with rose water.
In all of the Dodecanese, the Cyclades & the islands of the Northeast Aegean, Almond Biscuits are a classic delicacy offered at weddings and engagements…
Yours!

work: 20′

time: 1h:00′

easy:

Almond Pears-Amigthalota

The Argosaronic Islands, Cyclades, Dodecanese and all of our islands -and not only- make and celebrate with these Amigthalota/ Almonds Pears, snowy sweets of joy and hospitality to welcome new life, new names, new beginnings, and new pleasures. Snowy as the purity of the happy moments of our life and flavored with the essence of the blossoms of the sour orange.
As many as our islands are so many variations of this simple and such a beloved delicacy. Grated almond, egg white and fine semolina make up the basic principle to make these fragrant sweets and smell the home tradition and joy!
Yours!

work: 30′

time: 1h:00′

easy:

Koulourakia: Cypriot Easter Cookies

These Easter Cookies are traditional Cypriot Easter buns, which although Lenten are traditionally made on Good Friday.
They are flavored with oriental spices but also with Chios mastic and their aromas resemble those of Easter Tsoureki. They are ideally suited to our coffee and we certainly have more than one.
Daktylies is a type of long shaped-bread, which is separated into smaller parallel pieces, in order to be cut off easier and evenly. The ingredients used for daktylies are flour, leaven, water, sesame seeds and aniseed. Many housewives in the countryside continue the tradition and bake daktylies for the needs of the family.
Yours!

work: 45′

time: 3h:30′

medium:

Tahini Cookies

Mini cookies of a mouthful, fasting, but without the exclusion of the pleasure of their delicacy and the rest of the year, the non-fasting.
These are the perfect snack for those who are watching their diet. They are dairy-free, egg-free, butter-free but with tahini, orange juice and zest, amber brandy & aromatic spices, which give them their dark color!
Enjoy them with your favorite drink or wrap them on soft, nice wrapping paper & fill gift boxes with them. A remarkable gift for loved ones, friends, associates, neighbors… will be duly appreciated.
Yours!

work: 45′

time: 2h:00′

easy:

Cookies with Halva & Raisins

These biscuits are "official", luxurious and ideal to be offered in a sunday relaxing breakfast or in an afternoon meeting with loved ones and the family at a small call friends for coffee and chat or a tea and sympathy as they did once in the grandiose houses with the habits of the old aristocracy. Surely we can not stop enjoying them with hot tea or openings in the middle with freshly ground butter and homemade orange marmalade.
They are made easily and quickly, consumed without remorse and without restraint. They are fluffy, plump & scratchy. Their sugar content is small because Halva (with Super Fruits) and Raisins, the Greek super antioxidant, add enough sweetness. We are sure you will love them as much as we do.
Yours!

work: 30′

time: 45′

easy:

Melomakarona-Honey Cookies with Mavrodaphne

Melomakarona, the cousin of Kourambiethes, traditional Christmas sweets have their technique to get soaped in a delicious honey syrup properly, to be tasty and soft inside. The dough should be soft and fluffy to not become hard during baking and syrup to be viscous with a lot of honey and flavored with exquisite essential oils of orange but also the individual flavors of cinnamon and cloves.
The Mavrodaphne, this wonderful Greek product, gives tasty heady tones in melomakarona and as a final complement of all this comes the crushed walnuts to meet all of the above.
Yours!

work: 30′

time: 1h:15′

easy:

Sesame Seed Cookies

Cookies fluffy on the inside but crispy outside, sprinkled with white and black sesame seeds for a sweet bite that will accompany the hot beverage of choice, but also plain not inferior in any way, they are equally delicious.
The asteroid anise gives them a light fragrance and very discriminating taste. The sugar they contain is little, so just enough to be distinguishable in our palate.
They are particularly light, made easily, quickly, with straightforward procedures without a mixer, and above all we enjoy a delicious, healthy, and without preservatives or other additives cookie, made by us for our loved ones, young or old. Try them, they will be amazing.
Yours!

work: 20′

time: 40′

easy:

Ferrero Rocher Mousse Torte

Strawberry chocolate torte with fluffy chocolate mousse and sweet, chocolate, magical morsels Ferrero Rocher. Fresh, bright red and sweet strawberries, and those who took a chocolate coating, dipping them in melted chocolate, escorted each piece.
A truly delicious torte, which was created with love to celebrate anniversary family event and was accompanied with frozen sangria, with thin slices of orange floating.
Yours!

work: 1h:30′

time: 5h:30′

difficult:

Wild Saffron Bagels

Yellow Bagels from the island of Astypalaia, Greece. Ιs an Aegean island with 1,334 inhabitants. These homemade Bagels are made with saffron, yogurt, honey and condiments, fluffy and rusky. With these ingredients we make a gentle oily dough and form it into perfectly round bagels or small biscuits. They turn golden and delicious. Eaten pleasantly, accompanying a variety of cheeses and as snacks at all hours.
Try them!

work: 30′

time: 3h:00′

medium:

Cheesecake with Candied Kumquats

Baked Cheesecake decorated with sweet kumquat.
Intense flavors of orange, with the presence of essential aromas of citrus in and out of this delicious sweet.
Biscuit base, rich cheese cream, culminating in a plethora of many tiny kumquat syrupy and juicy, that balance between the sweetness of sugar and the slight bitterness of citrus.
A presentable dish with this unique fruit to become the favorite of the family on festive days.
Yours!

work: 45′

time: 1h:45′

difficult:

Orange Peel Cookies

The sugared orange peels utilized to give the aroma and sweet taste of these delicious cookies.
Cookies crumbled, slightly crunchy outside, and with the presence of orange combined with dark chocolate.
Try them!

work: 30′

time: 4h:00′

easy:

Cheesecake with Sour Cherries

Timeless, classic and favorite cheesecake. From the time we started to discover sour compote, canned sour cherries the first and outlandish recipes. Since then circulated an infinite number of variations, which were made in our kitchens by our mothers to us or by us for our children, but this here is a version that remains one of the most favorite flavor in our memory.
So classic ingredients and process. Flaky biscuits, soft cream cheese, french crème fraîche and sour cherries naturally! Sour cherries with sour taste and minimal sweetness, dipped in a syrup, with a beautiful deep red color.

work: 45′

time: 3h:45′

medium:

Sour Cream Tart

Simple tart, made easy, with the main ingredients, the sour cream and marzipan. A thin layer of powdered sugar gives it other than sweet taste, and a decorating idea. Thin, wavy golden brown crust surrounds and holds the delicious filling.
Yours!

work: 20′

time: 1h:00′

easy:

Peanut Butter Torte

Cake for those who feel in love and want to celebrate with their significant other the Valentino with a homemade cheesecake.
Cake, like love: sweet, soft, velvety, tender, biscuit but bitter, salty, crunchy, tough. Just like love, has it all!
The analytical and detailed step-by-step, you can make and enjoy a romantic mood.
Yours!

work: 45′

time: 5h:45′

difficult: