Greek Koulourakia

This is a recipe for Greek cookies (that I got from my great-aunt, Ciocia Stella...who's Polish) that reminds me of my Italian grandmother's Easter Pigna. They are great every day cookies, you can even serve them at breakfast.

Greek Koulourakia
A.K.A: Braided cookies.
Yields 50-60 cookies.

Ingredients:

½ lb butter (at room temperature)
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
½ cup orange juice
6 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda

Topping Ingredients
1 egg
1 Tbsp milk


1. Preheat oven to 350º F
2. Cream butter with mixer until it becomes white & fluffy (about 4 minutes)
3. Add sugar gradually and continue mixing
4. Add eggs one at a time
5. In a separate bowl, combing flour, baking powder, and soda.
6. Alternating, add the dry ingredients and the orange juice a little at a time to the mixing bowl and continue mixing until ingredients become doughy enough to handle (mixer will start to struggle).
7. While still in the bowl, knead mixture until it’s stiff enough to shape.
8. Break off enough dough to make a 1 ½ “ ball
9. Roll this out on a clean surface to form a 9” strand. Take each end of this strand, bring them together, and criss-cross each of them over each other twice.
10. Place on greased cookie sheets.
11. Combine topping ingredients and beat well. Use a brush to coat the top of each cookie lightly once.
12. Bake at 350º for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.