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In the eternal Christmas debate between melomakarona and kourampiedes, the clear winner for me is melomakarona. I’ve never appreciated kourampiedes: the strong taste of butter, the amounts of powdered sugar, a little bit of a mess to eat, never won my love. That was until last Friday when I spoke with Godji Mary on the Vhma Gourmet food blogging awards and she told me about the kourampiedes she made with coconut oil, and that it was the best thing she has ever done. http://www.gojimary.gr/recipe/kourabiedes/. So, I thought of giving them a chance and undertake the very ambitious piece of work this Christmas, to make the healthiest kourampiedes in the world! I Replaced the white flour with homemade almond flour (and a little bit of dinkel) which further strengthens the taste of the roasted almonds. The hardest thing was finding a substitute for powdered sugar-truth be told, kourampies without powdered sugar is not a kourampies. I then thought of lucuma, a sweet fruit that grows in the Andes and its powder, as sweet as a sin, is used as a natural sweetener. It’s quite special as it reminds you of maple syrup with citrus flavours. Peruvians call it the “Inkas Gold” not only for its sweet taste but also for its golden colour. You will find it in organic stores as lucuma is considered to be a superfood because it is a rich source of vitamin B1, B2, iron and potassium. Saucha Life proposes lucuma-kourampiedes for this Christmas. Just a tip: make the balls very small because they’ll blow up with baking powder, and they are so fulfilling due to the almonds that you won’t be able to eat a big piece!
Ingredients (for about 25 bites)
– 50 gr of roasted almonds
– 70 gr of coconut oil
– 70gr of dinkel flour
– 130gr of almond flour
– 50 grams of maple syrup
– 1 spoon of flower water
– 2 tsp of baking powder
– 3 spoons of powdered lucuma for coating
Preparation
– Chop the almonds (either using a knife or the food processor) into small pieces and roast them in an oven tray for about 10 minutes.
– At the same time, melt the coconut oil into a small coffee pot
– Stir the dry ingredients in a bowl and slowly add coconut oil, flower water and maple.
– Mix the materials and shape the mixture well into very small balls (they will rise in the oven with baking powder)
– Spread Sanitas greaseproof paper in a large pan and place the kourampiedes keeping a reasonable distance between each of them
– Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until they turn golden-brown.
– Let them cool for at least 15 minutes.
– Sprinkle with powdered lucuma through the sieve until it’s spread everywhere