Koulourakia Pasxalina: A Traditional Greek Easter Cookies Recipe


I got this Greek Easter cookies recipe from my mother. We call them koulourakia pasxalina (κουλουράκια πασχαλινά) which means Easter cookies in Greek. I still remember how wonderful our home smelt every time my mother was them. Fortunately, she still makes them every Easter! 

Straightforward to make, these homemade Greek Easter cookies are great to treat your friends and family! They are so delicious, I like eating them all year long. This traditional recipe requires flour, eggs, butter, vanilla extract, baking powder, cooking ammonia, and sugar.

Easter is the Greeks' most important religious holiday. We like this holiday for another reason as well. Greek Easter is all about food and desserts! Greeks may be talking one month before Easter about the food and desserts they are going to make. It is the cooking ammonia that makes these cookies light and crisp and gives them a more open crumb.

This Greek Easter cookies recipe, which gives around 40 pieces, takes around 1½ to prepare and around 30 minutes to bake.


Greek Easter Cookies - Ingredients

  • 550 - 600 g of all-purpose flour
  • 250 g of butter
  • 150 g of sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ of baking ammonia
  • Some milk
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
  • Salt

Greek Easter Cookies - How to Make

  1. Start this Greek Easter cookies recipe by taking a bowl and sifting the flour. Mix it with baking powder, salt, and vanilla.
  2. Dissolve baking ammonia into lukewarm milk.
  3. Take butter out of the refrigerator.
  4. Immediately cut butter into pieces.
  5. Put butter in the food mixer machine and add sugar.
  6. Mix butter and sugar until these ingredients become fluffy.
  7. Add the eggs and continue mixing. Slowly add the flour and the dissolved ammonia.
  8. Mix until it forms a soft dough.
  9. If the dough is sticky, place it just for a while in the fridge.
  10. Make koulourakia pasxalina into whatever shape you want.
  11. Brush cookies with a beaten egg to give them a shiny look.
  12. Preheat oven at 170-180 °C degrees.
  13. Take a baking pan and cover it with some non-stick baking paper.
  14. Bake koulourakia pasxalina until they get a golden brown look for around 20 - 30 minutes.
  15. Allow Greek Easter cookies to cool down to room temperature.
  16. Ready to serve!

You can preserve koulourakia pasxalina for many days if you keep them in a well-sealed biscuit box. If you enjoyed this Greek Easter cookie recipe, check out my blog for this traditional tsoureki recipe! Happy Easter!