Greek butter and almond snowball cookies (Kourabiedes)

1. Toast the almonds in a dry frying pan for 4-5 minutes, let them cool and chop roughly.

2. Beat the room-temperature butter with 60 g icing sugar and the scraped vanilla for 10 minutes into a pale, fluffy cream (the long beating gives kourabiedes their crumbly texture), then beat in the egg yolk.

3. Mix the flour with the baking powder and add it gradually to the butter cream together with the almonds, kneading just enough to form a soft dough.

4. Shape walnut-sized balls or small crescents and place them on a lined baking tray.

5. Bake at 170 °C for 18-20 minutes – they mustn't brown, only the bottoms should be pale golden.

6. While still warm, roll them generously in the remaining icing sugar, and sprinkle again once cool so they have a thick "snowy" coating.

Tip: Kourabiedes are the cookies of Greek Christmas and weddings – the thick coat of icing sugar is essential, so don't hold back. They keep for 2-3 weeks in an airtight container.