Saffron, Allspice and Pepper Biscuits

The week before Easter it is customary throughout Greece to bake biscuits; but these bright yellow, spicy ones from the island of Astypalaia were very different from the sweet, laden with eggs cookies I was familiar with… Read MORE

 

I start with the baking-powder version, a variation on the original yeasted biscuits, which produces very good results quite fast. If you want to make a more interesting yeasted one as it was the custom in the old days, use my recipe for Yogurt Bread adding the saffron diluted in the milk, as I describe below, and the other spices (allspice, nutmeg and pepper). Make the dough, omitting the stuffings, and when it has risen form into doughnut-like paximadia or smaller biscuits. Sprinkle with caraway seeds, if you like.

These biscuits are great as snacks, with coffee or drinks, and are an ideal accompaniment to soft cheeses, both sweet and creamy ones, like manouri and ricotta, and sharp ones, like Gorgonzola, Roquefort or any other blue

 

Makes about 56 biscuits


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Amygdalota: Lemon-scented, Stovetop Flourless Almond Cookies

Traditionally these fragrant cookies are scented with orange flower water, but I prefer to use the very aromatic zest of my lemons. They can also be made with tangerines, when in season. I use lemons from my garden or organic lemons in my recipes. If you cannot find organic lemons, wash your lemons thoroughly.

See also the Flourless Kean Almond Cookies

 

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Makes About 50 Cookies (more…)

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Green Savory Biscotti with Olive Oil, Yogurt and Nuts

In the winter or early spring, when the garden is full of greens, both cultivated and wild, like the ominous-looking juicy nettles, I often bake green bread and crunchy paximadia that are quite striking and exceptionally delicious!

They are an almost guilt-free snack, and Costas eats them with his coffee in the morning or after lunch; I often serve them with all kinds of salads and spreads as part of the meze; they complement ideally all kinds of apetizers, like Tarama or Smoked Herring spread, Tyrokafteri, and also the festive Liver Pate with Pistachios.

 

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Makes enough biscotti to fill TWO 3-quart jars
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