Italian Almond-Orange Cookies

I closed on a beautiful home in Temple Terrace this week. The buyers — a young couple, first-timers — looked at the keys the way I looked at my real estate license in 2012: like they were holding the future in their hands.

Sophia came home with a perfect score on her lab report and announced it with the casual confidence of a girl who expects excellence from herself and receives it. She has Nikos's pride — the kind that pretends not to care while caring so fiercely it has its own gravitational field.

Some weeks are ordinary. This was an ordinary week. I sold houses. I cooked dinner. I called Mama. I drove to Tarpon Springs on Sunday. The extraordinary thing about ordinary weeks is that they are the ones you miss most when they are gone.

I made kourabiedes — butter cookies pressed with almonds, dusted in powdered sugar. They did not last the day. I served it with bread and olive oil — always too much olive oil, because in this family there is no such thing as too much. We ate and the conversation was easy and the evening was warm.

Sophia told me this week that she is proud of me. I was not expecting it. We were in the car, driving to Tarpon Springs for Sunday dinner, and she said Mom, I am proud of you. I said for what. She said for everything. For the bakery. For the houses. For making dinner every night even when you are tired. I gripped the steering wheel and blinked and said thank you, koritsi mou. She said do not cry. I did not cry. Much.

When a week holds that much — a closing, a perfect lab score, and a daughter saying I am proud of you from the passenger seat — you bake something that matches the feeling: something buttery and bright, pressed with almonds and dusted in sugar. These Italian Almond-Orange Cookies are kissing cousins to the kourabiedes I grew up making with Mama, and they disappeared off the tray before the evening was half over, which is exactly what they were supposed to do.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange zest (from 1 medium orange)
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup blanched almonds, finely ground
1/2 cup whole blanched almonds, for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat your oven to 325°F (165°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cream the butter. Beat the softened butter and powdered sugar together with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add flavor. Mix in the vanilla extract, orange zest, and orange juice until fully incorporated.
Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and ground almonds. Add to the butter mixture and stir until a soft dough forms — do not overwork it.
Shape the cookies. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place them about 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Press one whole blanched almond gently into the center of each.
Bake. Bake for 13–15 minutes, until the bottoms are just golden and the tops remain pale. Do not overbake — these should stay tender.
Dust and cool. Let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. While still warm, dust generously with powdered sugar. Dust again once fully cooled for a thick, snowy coating.

Nutrition (per serving)

Italian Almond-Orange Cookies — The Batch That Didn’t Last the Day