With December creeping closer I can’t resist whipping up tons of different cookies. It is a comforting thing to have these small pastries with a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate, especially while working when you need that little boost.

We've published a collection of cookies for the winter season before, but this time around I want to introduce you to the wonderful world of kurabiye. Kurabiye refers to a kind of small pastry. Many will outright call them cookies, which is wrong, because they can be quite savory, close to crackers or maybe even outright crackers – depending on what you consider one.

If you ever visit a pastane, you’ll see trays of different kurabiye and can ask for sweet (tatlı) or savory ones (tuzlu), or do it my way and ask for karışık (mixed).

Either way, here are some recipes you can make at home, some in the classic "pastane" style, some not.

Un kurabiyesi

This literally means "flour cookie" in Turkish and it is an absolute delight. It melts in your mouth but you have to watch your breath when biting down because the copious amount of powdered sugar could go flying. You can of course buy these at literally every pastry shop and many regular supermarkets have them in-store as well, but homemade is always the best in my eyes.

Ingredients