Greek Curambiedes

I tried to get this recipe straight for a while. My Greek Yia yiá gave me the recipe before moving to New York, but no matter how many times I tried, the cookies turned out to be delicious but the consistency and shape wasn´t what I expect of Curambiedes. But then, of course, what she meant when  she said ´coffee plate size´ was an ultra-mini coffee plate (among other differences). So coming back to my home country, Argentina, I decided to have a grandmother-granddaughter day, spending the afternoon learning how to make the worldwide famous curambiedes. Satisfaction guaranteed or we´ll call the NASA for you, because if you don´t like curambiedes you are, for sure,... extraterrestrial!!!!! Hahahaha!

This recipe is dedicated to my friend Cheps and her family.


INGREDIENTS
A- Patience
B- 200 grams of salted butter
C- 340-350 grams of all-purpose flour
D- 1 egg
E- 50 grams of sugar
F- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
G- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
H- Confectioners sugar
I- Optional: Nuts or almonds

PROCEDURE:

FIRST STEP: Cut the butter in thin loafs and place them in the bowl where you´ll beat all the ingredients. The butter must be really tender, so either we wait for it to melt a little bit or we heat it using the bain-marie method. Warning: don´t melt the butter thoroughly, just soften it so it is easy to beat.

SECOND STEP: Beat the butter until it has whiten and start adding the regular sugar.

THIRD STEP: Take the beater away for this step and make sure your hands are clean. Mix the already mixed ingredients a little bit more with your fingers. It sounds crazy, yes, but that´s the way my Yia yiá taught me to do it.

FOURTH STEP: Add the egg yolk, but leave a little bit of the egg white too. 

FIFTH STEP: Add the vanilla extract and beat once again (with the beater). 

SIXTH STEP: Stiff the flour and baking powder into the mixture and knead as if you were scratching the mixture, like when you make a hole in the sand with your hands. Do not add the flour all at once.

SEVENTH STEP: Once the flour has been thoroughly integrated you can start giving shape to the cookies. TIP: Place them in a teflon baking pan and put that pan over a clean one so the cookies don´t get burned. 

Preheat oven to middle temperature.

To shape the cookies, grab a small piece of dough and press it with your hand, between your palm and your fingers. You can cut off the dough exceeding your hand so that all the cookies have the same size. You will see the shape is not uniform because of the gaps between finger and finger: roll the dough slightly with the help of your other hand, curve it a little bit and place it on the cookie pan.

You can make them round if you want and even place a nut or an almond inside of the cookie.

EIGHTH STEP: Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes. You´ll realize that they are ready because they look gold color on the bottom and they are dry on the top.

NINTH STEP: Let them cool, but not entirely, just so that you can touch them without burning your fingers. 

TENTH STEP: In a small dish place the confectioners sugar and sprinkle the cookie. You can do this with a sifter as well.

ELEVENTH STEP: Place the cookies on a serving plate or in a tupper, they last a month in a fresh and dry place, though I bet they won´t last a month…they are so delicious!

Now tell us, are you extraterrestrial?