THE BEST ITALIAN/GREEK COOKIES YOU WILL EAT

I have had a love for these cookies and everyone I bake these cookies for loves eating them. I have been baking cookies at an early age when I was in the Four H Club. My mom and my aunt taught me how to bake. I was taught everything about baking at a very early age. My mom is Italian and they teach their children at an early age to bake and cook. It is one of the privileges that I know how to do thanks to my mom. When Christmas comes I bake up a storm with my daughter. We have a great time baking, talking, and eating the cookies. Life could not be better than knowing how to bake cookies and give them as gifts in a nice container. Last year I and my daughter baked these cookies and we had a great time together. We also baked other cookies and gave them to our friends and relatives. We put them in fancy containers and we put a bow around it. Our family and friends were happy to have them as a Christmas gift.

The one cookie I bake is an Italian cookie called Koulouria. It is a hit with everyone that loves to eat cookies. I was introduced to these cookies when a friend of mine made them for my birthday. I bake these cookies and after the cookies are baked and cooled I frost them and then let the frosting harden. To bake these cookies is fairly simple, but it is a little time-consuming. From making the dough and rolling the dough out. I then bake them and decorate them If you would like to try these great cookies I am giving you step-by-step directions. So go ahead and give these cookies a try and you will not regret it!

KOULOURIA COOKIE

MAKING THE DOUGH

1/2 cup butter 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup of sugar 1/2 tsp. soda

1 whole egg 1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg separated 1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 whole egg, 1 egg yolk (reserve the egg white), and the vanilla until light and fluffy. Measure flour by dipping method or by sifting. Stir flour, soda, and salt together, blend into butter mixture kneading to a stiff dough, and chill dough for two hours.

Shape teaspoons of dough into pencil-like strips (6" Long and 1/4" thick), by rolling under fingers on a floured board. Formed in a double twist on a greased baking sheet. Beat egg white until frothy and brush on the cookies.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the cookies for fifteen minutes. Take out of the oven and let the cookies cool.

Decorate with confectionery colored sugar.

The frosting is made with about three cups of confectionery sugar, two tablespoons of milk, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Then divide the mixture into little bowls and add food coloring to the bowls. Decorate and you can add other toppings too.

I bake these cookies before Christmas and put them in the freezer. They will stay frozen until taken out of the freezer. If your family is like mine you will have to hide these cookies. If you do not hide them they will be all gone. You will not be able to give the cookies as gifts because they will be gone!

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