Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Irene’s Cretan biscuits (Greek almond cookies) Recipe
These conventional Greek Cretan biscuits are right here courtesy of Irene, the very Greek mom of my very Greek hairdresser. Does it shock anyone that I spend more often than not on the salon discussing meals with all people and anyone? 😂
In case you love buttery shortbread biscuits and almond cookies, you’ll adore at present’s Greek Cretan Biscuits. However first, I would like you to fulfill Irene!
My hairdresser Deange Hair is run by two Greek sisters, Angela and Diane, in a small store hooked up to their mother and father’ home. On any given day, the salon buzzes with clients getting their hair achieved as they nibble selfmade cookies whereas younger kids dart across the store. Irene, the household matriarch, holds court docket with purchasers as she interjects with “recommendation” for her daughters as they work with scrumptious aromas wafting in from her kitchen.
You would possibly even catch her doing a weekly audit of her biscuit gross sales to make sure her daughters aren’t shortchanging her. “Be sure that this cash goes to your mum!” I sternly remind Angela and Diane each time I purchase some. 😂
It’s a splendidly acquainted scene that gives a lot amusement to regulars.
Of all of the selfmade cookies I’ve tried (and I’m fairly certain I’ve tried all of them!), the Greek Cretan biscuits have been my favorite. Thanks Irene for sharing your recipe!
About Irene’s Cretan Biscuits
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What – Conventional Greek cookies from the island of Crete.
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Style – Like almond flavoured shortbread cookies. Fantastically buttery with a delicate crumble.
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Look – Formed like a mound (good and hefty to chew into!) and adorned with almond flakes which add additional almond flavour in addition to texture.
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Problem – Simple. Rolling the cookies is what takes the longest, however you are able to do this at a leisurely tempo whereas chatting on the telephone to your greatest good friend!
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How a lot I like them – Quite a bit! Excessive sentimental attachment due to the recipe supply.
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Make for workplace morning tea, guide membership, college bake sale and simply because.
Right here’s what it is advisable make Irene’s Cretan Biscuits.
biscuit dough
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Blanched almonds – These are skinless almonds which have been blanched (did the title give it away?? 😂) which means they’ve been briefly boiled in water so the pores and skin comes off simply. These almonds are softer and have a extra refined almond flavour than common roasted almonds. They’re additionally chosen for aesthetic causes once you don’t need the darkish brown almond pores and skin in meals, like in these Cretan Cookies.
Can you employ common almonds with skins? Yep, you certain can and the flavour shall be comparable. However put together your self for little darkish brown bits inside your cookies!
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Butter – Provides these cookies the divine buttery flavour harking back to shortbread cookies. I choose to make use of unsalted then add my very own quantity of salt. However in the event you solely have salted that’s tremendous, simply skip the salt within the recipe.
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Flour – Simply plain / all-purpose flour. Word: Irene’s unique recipe known as for self elevating flour. See FAQ for what and why I deviated from her unique recipe!
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Baking powder – That is what makes the cookies rise into these great little mounds! ⚠️ Don’t substitute with baking soda (bi-carbonate soda), the cookies will style metallic. Additionally, in case your baking powder has been mendacity dormant for months in your pantry, verify it’s nonetheless alive earlier than beginning the recipe (directions right here, it’s useless simple).
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Egg – Use a “giant egg” which is bought in cartons labelled as “giant eggs”. They’re ~50g/2 oz every in shells. Eggs in a carton aren’t all the identical weight as a result of these darn hens, they’re so egocentric, how dare they not lay eggs precisely the identical weight each time! The purpose of offering a measurement information is so that you don’t use a huge ostrich egg or tiny quail egg….the recipe won’t work! 🙂
Received jumbo eggs? Crack, whisk, measure out 45g / 2 1/2 tbsp. (Extra data right here).
Be sure that your egg is at room temperature, not fridge chilly. else you’ll wrestle to get it combined into the butter correctly.
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Vanilla extract – For flavour. Vanilla extract trumps vanilla essence (imitation). I wouldn’t use dear vanilla beans in a recipe like this!
Adorning
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Egg white – Used to brush the highest of the biscuits to make the almond flakes stick. Use the yolk plus leftover egg whites in your morning scrambled eggs or omelette!
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Almond flakes – For adorning the floor. Not crucial, however a pleasant to have for each additional almond flavour plus visible. I might plough forward with this recipe if I used to be out!
It is a simple cookie recipe. Nevertheless, this part has a good quantity of descriptions so even novice bakers can believe making this recipe. For professional bakers, head straight to the abbreviated instructions on the recipe card beneath!
1. crushed ALMOND BITs
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Roast almonds – Pop the almonds within the oven for 7 minutes to toast them flippantly. It will depth the almond flavour however gained’t make the almonds too brown (we would like them to remain white so it’s invisible within the cookies).
Roasting is just not a vital step as a result of the cookies are beautiful as is. But it surely does convey out the almond flavour. It’s particularly good to do that if you’re utilizing almonds just a little on the previous aspect. 🙂
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Bash or blitz – Use a meals processor or a ziplock bag and rolling pin to bash the almonds into little crumbs. We’re not going for finely floor almonds right here. If we have been, the recipe would use almond meal as an alternative! I describe the items as “coarse sand plus some bigger bits” as a result of whichever methodology you employ, it’s onerous to get the almonds all uniform in measurement. And that’s what we would like, as a result of it’s truly very nice to have little bits of almonds within the cookies!
2. BISCUIT MIXTURE
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Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt collectively then put them apart.
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Cream the butter and sugar till it’s gentle and fluffy, like delicate spreadable butter. It takes about 1 1/2 minutes on medium excessive.
Software – I choose to make use of a handheld beater as a result of you possibly can transfer it across the bowl so that you don’t really want to scrape the perimeters down. If you wish to use a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment and scrape down the perimeters of the bowl at the very least twice.
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Egg and vanilla – Then beat the egg and vanilla into the butter combination. It would look just a little curdled however don’t fear, it’ll come collectively as soon as we add the flour.
⚠️ Essential to make sure the egg is at room temperature as it’ll incorporate into the butter combination extra simply. Fridge chilly egg won’t combine in correctly.
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Flour combination in 3 tons – Beat within the flour combination in 3 tons. By this, I imply add 1/3 of the flour and beat on medium velocity till the flour is nearly combined in ie some specks of white is ok, about 5 seconds with the beater. Begin on low then improve the velocity to medium (in the event you begin on excessive there shall be a flour storm!). Then repeat this twice extra till all of the flour is used up.
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Crushed almonds – Then lastly, add the bashed almonds and beat till the flour is absolutely combined in.
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Completed dough – That is what it appears to be like like. Shaggy however delicate, rollable right into a easy ball.
3. MAKING THE COOKIES
Use no matter methodology you discover best to roll 30 x 2 tablespoon balls (30 ml). The steps beneath depict the strategy I discover to be the quickest to make even measurement cookies.
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Trays – You will want 2 giant baking trays. Flippantly grease with butter or spray with oil then cowl with baking paper (parchment paper).
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Scoop first – Use a #40 (2 tbsp) cookie scoop to scoop and dollop the cookie dough into mounds on baking trays. You need to nearly get 30 cookies in the event you fill the news with out air bubbles and “smear” it up the aspect of the bowl to stage the floor.
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Roll and flatten – Working one cookie at a time, I roll the dough right into a easy ball then barely flatten to about 2 cm / 0.8″ thick.
Then place the cookies 4 cm / 1.6″ aside on the trays. I do 15, being 3 rows of 5 cookies on every tray They don’t broaden outwards that a lot however we would like adequate warmth circulating round every cookie so that they prepare dinner correctly.
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Almond topping – Brush the highest with the egg white them place a pinch of almond flakes on prime (no must press in, egg glues them on).
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Bake each trays collectively for 20 minutes or till the cookies within the center are gentle golden and those of the sting of the tray are barely extra golden.
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Cool 5 minutes on the tray then switch onto a rack to chill for at the very least an extra 10 minutes earlier than attacking! (Sizzling cookies = fragile / mouth burns. Both state of affairs is just not supreme). Whereas usually eaten at room temperature as soon as cooled, they are surely additional particular when heat and contemporary out of the oven.
As soon as absolutely cool, retailer in an hermetic container within the pantry, not the fridge. They keep contemporary for five days and nonetheless very, excellent at 7 days, making them glorious for…..oh, I don’t know. Promoting on the counter of your hair salon? 😂
Whereas shelf life data is beneficial, I do know what you’re all ready for – Irene’s overview of my Cretan Biscuits! Very pleased to report that she gave them an enormous thumbs up. 👍🏻 PHEW!!! – Johnsat x
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup (100g) blanched almonds (Note 1)
- 2 1/2 cups plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 4 tsp baking powder
- One pinch cooking salt / kosher salt
- 250g/ 2 sticks unsalted butter , softened (Note 2)
- 3/4 cups white sugar (or caster sugar)
- 1 large egg , at room temperature (~50g / 2oz in shell)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg white , lightly whisked (use leftover for breakfast scrambled eggs!)
- 1/4 cup almond flakes
Instructions
- Toast almonds 7 min at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan), cool bash or blitz. Cream butter and sugar, beat in egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients in 3 lots, then beat in almond. Roll 30 x 2 tbsp balls (#40 scoop). Slightly flatten, brush with egg white, top with flakes. Bake 20 min until light golden.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced). Lightly grease (or spray with oil) 2 large trays and line with baking paper (parchment paper).
- Roasting (optional, Note 1) – Roast the almonds for 7 minutes on a small tray, shaking once halfway. Cool almonds on the tray.
- Bash/blitz the almonds using a food food processor or ziplock bag with a rolling pin until they resemble coarse sand with some small lumps (little almonds bits in the cookies are nice). (Note 3)
- Dry ingredients – Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar – In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar using a handheld beater until it is soft and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed, ~1 1/2 minutes on medium high. (Note 2 stand mixer) Add the egg and vanilla, then beat until mixed in. (Note 4)
- Add the flour mixture in 3 lots, beating in between until the flour is mostly mixed in (some visible white flour is ok). Start the beater on low and increase to medium, about 7 sec each go.
- Add the crushed almonds then beat on medium until you can no longer see flour.
- Form cookies – Roll 30 x 2 tablespoon balls (#40 cookie scoop) then slightly flatten to about 2 cm / 0.8" thick. (Note 5 for my method). Place the cookies 4 cm / 1.6" apart on the trays. Brush the top with egg white them place a pinch of almond flakes on top (no need to press in, egg glues them on).
- Bake both trays together for 20 minutes or until the cookies in the middle are light golden and the ones of the edge of the tray are slightly more golden.
- Cool 5 minutes on the tray then transfer onto a rack to fully cool. Attack!
Notes
1. Blanched almonds are the skinless almonds sold in packets labelled “blanched almonds” (I know, shocking! 😉 ) Almonds with skins on works but you’ll get little brown bits in the cookies. Roasting intensifies the almond flavour but it’s not recipe critical.
Using almond meal instead – It’s finer and more absorbent so I’d use less, around 75g, say 1/2 cup. It won’t be quite the same though as you won’t get little almond bits in the cookies, but I’m sure it will still be tasty.
2. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment and scrape down sides as needed. For this recipe, I find a handheld beater easier because you can move it around so probably don’t need to scrape down the sides.
3. Almond bashing – We’re not aiming for fine almond meal / almond flour here, we want lots of tiny little bits!
4. If the mixture looks a little split when you add the egg that’s ok, it will come together when you add the flour.
5. My cookie forming method: scoop and dollop all the dough onto trays, then roll and flatten. I find this the fastest way to make even sized cookies. (I also do this with meatballs!)
Store cookies in an airtight container for 5 days (once fully cool). Do not refrigerate.
Nutrition per cookie.
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