Sesame Seed Cookies With Olive Oil (Koulourakia)

4 from 13 votes

Sesame Seed Cookies With Olive Oil (Koulourakia)

These sesame seed cookies (Greek Lent cookies) are as crunchy as biscotti with delicious earthy flavors of orange, sesame, honey, cinnamon.

Prep Time45

Cook Time40

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Greek

Keyword: cookies, dairy-free, healthy, Oven baked

Servings: cookies

Calories: 139kcal

Ingredients

200 grams (1 cup) olive oil
80 ml (⅓ cup) water
125 grams (½ cup) sugar
150 ml (¾ cup) orange juice fresh
50 grams (2 ½ tablespoons) honey
1 orange zested
2 tablespoons brandy or tsipouro
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
700 grams (5 cups + 8 tbsp) all purpose flour
200 grams (1 ½ cups) sesame seeds

Instructions

Mix together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl add the orange juice and all of the remaining ingredients except the flour and sesame seeds. Stir vigorously with a whisk until the sugar dissolves.
Add the flour in batches and knead the dough. You should end up with a soft dough that doesn't stick on your hands. If the dough still leaves fragments on your hands add a little bit more flour to it. But be careful not to add too much.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let the dough rest at room temperature for 15-20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 170°C / 338°F.
After resting time has passed, take small parts of the dough (about 1 loaded tablespoon) and shape them into a round ball. Then on a clean surface start to roll the ball into a small cord about 17 cm (7-inches) long.
Add sesame seeds to a large flat dish.
Roll the dough cord over the sesame seeds pressing it lightly to help the sesame seeds stick to it. Then press the edges together to stick and form a holed cookie.
Transfer cookie to a sheet pan or baking pan covered with parchment paper.
Repeat the process until you have enough cookies to fill the pan. Leaving about 3 cm (1,5-inch) of space between each cookie. Ideally bake the cookies in two batches so each batch bakes properly all over instead of adding two pans in the oven in one go.
Bake the cookies for about 15 to 20 minutes. Or until the cookies get a deep golden/ light brown color on top. The sesame seeds won't get any color.
Once the cookies are baked, remove the pan from the oven but leave the cookies on the pan until they're cool enough to the touch. As you will need to carefully transfer the cookies with your hands to avoid all the sesame falling off of them.
Let cookies cool down to room temperature for a few hours on a cooling rack. Then store them in a cookie tin or airtight food container to keep them nice and crunchy. As there is no dairy in these cookies they won't spoil. So you can keep them for up to a few months if kept closed airtightly.

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