Name: Astypalaian Yellow (Saffron) Biscuits (Kitrina Koulouria Astypalitika)
Yield: Makes about 5½ dozen
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: 1½ cups full-fat cottage or farmer cheese, crumbled; 1½ teaspoons saffron threads; ½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine; 8-9 cups all-purpose flour; 2 cups milk; ½ cup olive oil; 1 teaspoon ground white pepper; 1 egg yolk; 1 teaspoon sea salt; 1 teaspoon ground allspice; 2 packages (2 tablespoons) active dry yeast, dissolved in ½ cup warm milk; ½ teaspoon baking powder

Preparation info

Makes about
5½
dozen

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Foods of Greece

By Aglaia Kremezi

Published 1993

About

I first saw these biscuits on Holy Thursday in Astypalaia (an island of the Dodecanese). In a bakery there I saw pan after pan full of yellow biscuits about to be baked for the second time. I thought they were the baker’s specialty and asked if I could buy some. To my astonishment I learned that they belonged to the women of the village, who had brought them there to be baked. I was offered one to taste, and tried to figure out what was giving them their strange flavor. I had never seen or