Greek Cretan Biscuits (almond cookies)

You might even catch her doing a weekly audit of her biscuit takings to ensure her daughters aren’t shortchanging her. “Make sure this money goes to your mum!” I sternly remind Angela and Diane every time I acquire some. 😂 It’s a wonderfully familiar scene that provides much amusement to regulars.

About Irene’s Cretan Biscuits

- Look – Shaped like a mound (nice and hefty to bite into!) and decorated with almond flakes which add extra almond taste as well as texture. - How much I love them – A lot!

High sentimental attachment because of the method source. - Make for office morning tea, book club, school bake sell-off and just since.

Ingredients in Irene’s Cretan Biscuits

Here’s what you need to make Irene’s Cretan Biscuits. - Flour – Just plain / all-purpose flour.

Note: Irene’s original method called for self raising flour. See FAQ for what and why I deviated from her original method!

- Egg – Use a “large egg” which is sold in cartons labelled as “large eggs”. They are ~50g/2 oz each in shells. Eggs in a carton are not all the same weight because those darn hens, they’re so selfish, how dare they not lay eggs exactly the same weight every time!

The point of providing a size guide is so you don’t use a gigantic ostrich egg or tiny quail egg….the method will not work! 🙂 Got jumbo eggs? Crack, whisk, measure out 45g / 2 1/2 tbsp. (More information here).

Make sure your egg is at room temperature, not fridge cold. else you will struggle to get it mixed into the butter properly. - Vanilla extract – For savour.

Vanilla extract trumps vanilla essence (imitation). I wouldn’t use pricey vanilla beans in a method like this!

- Egg white – Used to brush the top of the biscuits to make the almond flakes stick. Use the yolk plus leftover egg whites for your morning scrambled eggs or omelette! - Almond flakes – For decorating the surface.

Not critical, but a nice to have for both extra almond flavour plus visual. I would plough ahead with this recipe if I was out!

1. crushed ALMOND BITs

2. BISCUIT MIXTURE

- Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together then put them aside. - Cream the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy, like soft spreadable butter.

It takes about 1 1/2 minutes on medium high. Tool – I prefer to use a handheld beater since you can move it around the bowl so you don’t really need to scrape the sides down.

If you want to use a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment and scrape down the sides of the bowl at least twice. - Egg and vanilla – Then beat the egg and vanilla into the butter mixture.

It might look a little curdled but don’t worry, it will come together once we add the flour. ⚠️ Important to ensure the egg is at room temperature as it will incorporate into the butter mixture more easily. Fridge cold egg will not mix in properly.

- Flour mixture in 3 lots – Beat in the flour mixture in 3 lots. By this, I mean add 1/3 of the flour and beat on medium speed until the flour is just about mixed in ie some specks of white is fine, about 5 seconds with the beater. Start on low then uptick the speed to medium (if you start on high there will be a flour storm!).

Then repeat this twice more until all the flour is used up. - Crushed almonds – Then lastly, add the bashed almonds and beat until the flour is fully mixed in.

- Finished dough – This is what it looks like. Shaggy but soft, rollable into a smooth ball.

- Trays – You will need 2 large baking trays. Lightly grease with butter or spray with oil then cover with baking paper (parchment paper).

- Almond topping – Brush the top with the egg white them place a pinch of almond flakes on top (no need to press in, egg glues them on).

Matters of storage – and the most important thing

Once fully cool, store in an airtight container in the pantry, not the fridge. They stay fresh for 5 days and still very, very good at 7 days, making them excellent for…..oh, I don’t know.

Selling at the counter of your hair salon? 😂 While shelf life information is useful, I know what you’re all waiting for – Irene’s review of my Cretan Biscuits!

Very happy to report that she gave them a big thumbs up. 👍🏻 PHEW!!! – Nagi x

Greek Cretan Biscuits FAQ

Mainly for consistency of outcome purposes, which is me sharing this recipe with my recipe writer hat on.

- And lastly, I roasted the blanched almonds briefly to see if it improved the almond savour and it does. So I added this into my recipe. Not a critical step but especially useful if your almonds are a little on the old side.

30, around 6cm / 2.4″ wide and 2cm / 0.8″ thick. But keep an eye out on the comments section as readers often try my baking recipes with gluten free flour and report back with their results plus tips!

Cup sizes differ slightly between the US (1 cup = 226ml) and the rest of the world (250 ml). While the difference is not enough to make a difference in most recipes, for some baking recipes it can mean the difference between success and failure. I made this recipe using US cups, Australian cups and the weights I’ve provided and there was no difference in the end result.

So the difference in cup sizes does not matter for this recipe! Astute bakers may as well notice that the elements lists “2 sticks butter” which is a US measurement for butter. This equates to 226g (being 113g per stick) which is less than the 250g listed.

This is deliberate, to account for the US cups being slightly smaller.

Watch how to make it

- 2/3 cup (100g) blanched almonds (Note 1) - 2 1/2 cups plain flour (all-purpose flour)

- One pinch cooking salt / kosher salt - 250g/ 2 sticks unsalted butter , softened (Note 2) - 3/4 cups white sugar (or caster sugar)

- 1 large egg , at room temperature (~50g / 2oz in shell) - 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 egg white , lightly whisked (use leftover for breakfast scrambled eggs!) - Toast almonds 7 min at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan), cool bash or blitz.

Cream butter and sugar, beat in egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients in 3 lots, then beat in almond.

Roll 30 x 2 tbsp balls (#40 scoop). Slightly flatten, brush with egg white, top with flakes.

Bake 20 min until light golden. - Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced).

Lightly grease (or spray with oil) 2 large trays and line with baking paper (parchment paper). - Roasting (optional, Note 1) – Roast the almonds for 7 minutes on a small tray, shaking once halfway.

Cool almonds on the tray. - Dry components – Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

- Cream butter and sugar – In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar using a handheld beater until it is soft and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed, ~1 1/2 minutes on medium high. (Note 2 stand mixer) Add the egg and vanilla, then beat until mixed in. (Note 4) - Add the flour mixture in 3 lots, beating in between until the flour is mostly mixed in (some visible white flour is ok). Start the beater on low and uptick to medium, about 7 sec each go.

- Add the crushed almonds then beat on medium until you can no longer see flour. - Cool 5 minutes on the tray then transfer onto a rack to fully cool.