Amygdalota

Somewhere between soft marzipan and hard amaretti biscuits, these chewy and delicately flavoured almond cookies are a traditional sweet hailing from the Greek islands. The castle town of Monemvasia and the island of Mykonos both pride themselves on their impeccable amygdalota.

Almonds have been a staple of Greek cuisine for millennia and these sweet treats take their name from amýgdalo, the Greek word for the nut. Traditionally, the flourless almond mixture would be served up unbaked, moulded to resemble small pears. Since the mid-20th century, a half-moon shape has been more popular, but if you want to embrace the classic fruit shape, you can even add a clove to the top of the cookie to replicate a pear’s stem.

Using only five ingredients, the recipe is very simple and should produce around 40 small cookies.

INGREDIENTS

400g ground almonds 100g sugar 2 egg whites 50ml rose water Icing sugar for dusting

METHOD

Mix the ground almonds with the sugar. This should resemble a fine powder.

Beat the egg whites into meringue. Add the meringue to the powdered almonds and sugar and mix gently to incorporate.

Form small, almondshaped balls or pear shapes with your hands and then place them on a baking tray.

Bake at 120°C for 20-25 minutes.

Spray the amygdalota with rose water as soon as they come out of the oven and let them cool down.

Once at room temperature, roll in icing sugar to coat.

VERDICT

“These amygdalota make the perfect after-dinner accompaniment to a strong cup of Greek coffee”

Difficulty: 2/10 Time: 1 hour

Recipe from eatyourselfgreek.com