A crispy sweet dough, filled with a creamy cheese filling. A hint of cinnamon and orange makes this delicious Easter cookie called Kalitsounia.
It's Foodblog swap time and this time I was assigned to bake from Claudia's Keuken (a Dutch blog). A blog with all kinds of delicious recipes without the use of store bought packs and sacks. And the recipes are often from the Mediterranean kitchen. But with reason because Claudia has got a great connection with Greece. And these Kalitsounia, Easter cookies from Crete, were simply irresistible.
Kalitsounia
On Crete every family bakes Kalitsounia and every one gots his own secret family recipe and variations. The cookies, which are slightly sweet but not to much are a real tradition. I don't have much experience with these cookies but I was very surprised.
With the first bite you've got some crunchy slightly sweet cookie and then you get a bit of creamy filling with a hint of orange. The after bite is of warming cinnamon. I now know why this cookie has become a tradition in Crete.
Because ...
- Use all ingredients with room temperature when baking. This way your dough becomes more airy and the ingredients for the filling mix much better.
- By cooling the dough after kneading it will become less sticky. Therefor you can roll it better en shape it.
Substitutes
- If you don't have self raising flour, you can use 250 grams flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.
- Greek yoghurt can be substituted with plain yoghurt
- Substitute Ricotta with Mascarpone for a fuller flavor.
Delicious
with
- Add some vanilla to the dough. The flavor gets more intense.
- Dust the cookies with confectioners sugar or swirl some honey on top.
Budget friendly
version
- Substitute ricotta with cottage cheese
- Use skinny yoghurt instead of Greek yoghurt
- Substitute self raising baking flour with 250 grams flour and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. The baking powder can be exchanged by baking soda because you've added a sour (yogurt) to the dough. A sour liquid will start the baking soda.
- Use sugar instead of honey. Therefor use 50 grams sugar (dough) and 2 tablespoons sugar (filling).
The price of a cookie (you can bake about 20 cookies with this recipe) will then become; €0.10 per cookie.
Storage
- These cookies can be stored for 3-4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Don't store these cookies in the freezer. The structure will change and that's not so great.
Other cookie
recipes
It's a good taste!
Recipe
Kalitsounia
Did you make this Kalitsounia? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram or twitter . I love it when you make one of my recipes and I’m looking forward to look it up. You can also share your recipes on my Facebook channel or pin this recipe on Pinterestso you can find it easy next time. See you soon!
📖 Recipe
RECIPE CARD
Equipment
- A conventional oven is used. When using a convection oven (with air fan) decrease the temperature with 30 °F / 20 °C
Ingredients
Dough
- 250 grams self-rising flour
- 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 1 egg , size M
- 50 ml olive oil, Greek fruity olive oil
- 25 grams honey
- 1 orange zest
- 3 tablespoons orange juice
Filling
- 250 grams Ricotta
- 1 egg , size M, ½ for the filling ½ for brushing the biscuit
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
Dough
- Put all the ingredients for the dough together in a bowl and mix the dough with dough hooks until you have a cohesive soft dough. This will take you about 5-10 minutes of mixing time.
- Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Filling
- Mix the ricotta, half the egg, honey and cinnamon and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- Put in the fridge and cool well.
Make and bake cookies
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out into a dough of 3 mm thickness.
- Grab an 8 cm round cookie cutter (or use a cup or plate) and cut out circles.
- Place a dough in front of you and scoop 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of the dough.
- Fold the dough in slightly, forming a point between two fingers. Do this all around the dough (see the photo above).
- Place the cookie on the baking sheet and repeat until all the dough or filling is finished.
- Beat the remaining egg well with 1 tablespoon of water and brush the top of the cookies.
- Dust the cookies in the oven and bake them for 30 minutes. Pay attention, when they get too brown you can cover them with aluminum foil.
Nutrition
What did I use to prepare this
recipe?
Kitchen utensils I’ve used to prepare this recipe. When you follow the link you will go to another page with a short explanation of each item. It’s also possible to order directly if you’re in need.
- a good pair of knives
- cutting board
- Brushes, spatulas and other cooking utensils
- Sheet pan, baking tray or baking sheet
- Baking paper or baking mat
- Immersion hand blender and hand mixer
- cookie cutters or round baking form
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