This is a recipe for my American friends who wish to try these traditional Greek autumn cookies known as Moustokouloura. The cookies originated in ancient Greece, and people enjoyed them during the Byzantine empire too.
These are cookies made with grape molasses, but my recipe substitutes those for fresh grape juice. Give it a try! They're still delicious.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup fresh, no-sugar, raw grape juice.
- pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 400 gr of flour (a little less than 3 cups)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Execution:
1.Preheat oven to 335 F.
2. In a bowl, throw the juice, add the sugar, salt, olive oil, cinnamon, and cloves and mix manually.
3. In a different bowl, add the flour and baking powder; use a spoon to mix them.
4. Transfer everything in step 2 to the flour bowl and mix all together manually (do not mix for a long time).
5. Use a spoon to take some of the dough, roll it in your hands, and shape it like a circle with a hole in the middle. Do that until you've used all the dough (try to use the spoon for evenness).
6. Place cookies on a pan with parchment paper. (I don't like to use cooking sprays.)
7. Put in the oven for 25 min.
Recipe makes 10 - 12 cookies. Preparation 10 min. Bake time 25 min.
Tips: 1. Even though it seems like you don't need two bowls, actually use two bowls otherwise, the dough will fail.
2. If dough ends up too sticky and you can't shape the cookies, add more flour. Otherwise, you don't need to shape the cookies in circles; you can just use the spoon and transfer the pieces onto the baking pan.
3. If your baking pan is too small for 10 cookies, bake in two batches. Make sure to cover the leftover dough with a plastic wrap to keep the moisture.
ENJOY!
E.K.