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pile of kurabiye

Kurabiye

  • Author: Amélie
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 23 minutes
  • Total Time: 53 minutes
  • Yield: 23 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: Turkish

Description

Kurabiye are crumbly butter cookies made with powdered sugar, deliciously flavored with vanilla. These traditional Turkish cookies are incredibly easy to make and only require a handful of ingredients!


Ingredients

Scale

For the dough:

  • 230g butter (2 sticks)
  • ½ tbsp vanilla sugar (or use vanilla extract)
  • 65g cornstarch (½ cup)
  • 55g powdered sugar (⅓ cup)
  • 315g all-purpose flour (2 ¼ cups)

For the topping:

  • 15g powdered sugar (1 ½ tbsp)

Instructions

  1. Soften the butter. Cut the butter into cubes and place into a large mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and leave at room temperature until completely soft. It might take up to 3h if your kitchen is cold. There should be no resistance if you press a finger into a cube.

  2. Make the dough. Sprinkle the vanilla sugar (or pour the vanilla extract) over the butter. Beat the butter with a hand mixer until creamy, about 30 seconds to 1 min. Sieve the cornstarch and powdered sugar over the bowl. Beat at the lowest speed until the dry ingredients are incorporated and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Sieve half of the flour over the bowl and beat at the lowest speed until incorporated. If flour flies everywhere even at the lowest speed, use a wooden spatula or mix by hand. Sieve the rest of the flour over the bowl and mix by hand until coarse crumbs form. Continue mixing delicately until most of the crumbs stick together. Press the dough into a rough ball with your hands. Be gentle, don’t over-knead the dough or the cookies will end up tough. If the dough is too dry and doesn’t come together work in just enough cold water, 1 tbsp at a time, to bring the dough together. Depending on the absorbency of the flour I sometimes have to add up to 2 tbsp of water and sometimes I don’t need to add water at all.

  3. Shape the cookies. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Tear off a small handful of dough and roll it into a rope about 3cm (1 ¼  in) thick and 3cm (1 ¼ in) wide on a clean work surface. Use a knife to cut out 3 cm (1 ¼ in) square pieces, about 3 to 4 pieces per rope. Place the cookies on the baking tray, spacing them 4cm (1 ½ in) apart, and repeat the same process with the rest of the dough. You should get about 23 cookies. Gently press down the prongs of a fork into the middle of each cookie to create firm lines. Don’t press a lot (especially not all the way to the bottom), you don’t want the squares to spread out too much. Place the baking tray with the cookies uncovered in the freezer for 30 min (or in the fridge for 2h).

  4. Bake. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Bake until the bottom and the edges of the cookies start to turn golden, about 22 to 24 min. The top of the cookies should remain pale. Set the tray aside and wait for the cookies to cool down completely. Put the remaining powdered sugar in a fine-mesh strainer and dust the top of the cookies.

Notes

The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. They will get soften slightly over time.


Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1
  • Calories: 145

Keywords: turkish desserts, quick cookies