Pastitsia, are the Cypriot Almond coookies, also called amygdalota. They are made with almonds and meringue, similar to macaron but they are crunchy outside, soft inside and chewy.
Christmas
These melt in your mouth kourabiedes (Kourabies (pl. kourabiedes, pronounced kou-rah-be-EH-thez), are the Greek shortbread cookies made during Christmas.
This Christmas Chocolate Wafer Coconut Roulade is made with a biscuit base crust and is filled with pastry cream, topped with chocolate ganache.
A twist to the Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake made with red candied fruit such as strawberries, cherries, candied eggplant, dried cranberries and cherry jam.
Kalikantzari, which are malevolent goblins, in Greek and Cypriot folklore tradition, get out of the depth of earth during the twelve days of Christmas.
This classic Orange flavoured Vassilopita cake pairs well with an orange or Lemon Buttercream.
There are many ways to make this cake, so you can learn all about the tradition behind the cake and another recipe in my last year’s post.
Samousades is the Spartan version of baklavas and is made in a similar way we make “Tsipopita” in Cyprus, the only difference is that they are rolled into a thicker roll and whereas Tsipopita is always made with almonds, in samousades you can also add walnuts, pistachio etc, and more spices.
Zalatina, as it is called in Cyprus, or pichti in Greece, is a traditional delicacy, served as an appetizer, originally made from the head and trotters of the pig, which create a gel when it sets.
Brining a turkey makes it moistier. You can either brine it in a water solution with salt, water, sugar and spices or dry brine it.
Amygdalota, take their name from amygdala, which mean almonds in Greek and are no bake Greek cookies from the Greek islands made with blanched almonds and sugar. They are dipped in rose water and then coated with icing (confectioners’) sugar.