WHAT YOU NEED

40g shelled pecans
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons icing (confectioners’) sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon brandy
300g plain (all-purpose) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 pinches of salt
35g semisweet dark chocolate, cut into small chunks
250g icing (confectioners’) sugar, for dusting

Snap the pecans in half, then snap those into a few smaller pieces. Toast in a dry frying pan over low heat until just lightly coloured. Leave to cool.

Whisk the butter in a wide bowl with electric beaters for 6–7 minutes until very pale and thick. Whisk in the icing sugar, then add the yolk, vanilla and brandy and whisk in well. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, and beat until you have a smooth dough which is hard to keep mixing with beaters.

Switch to hands, cleaning out the butter and flour from the beaters, and work the dough gently, turning it in the bowl to gather it all into a compact, soft and buttery mass.

Divide the dough in half. Add the pecans to one half, very lightly working them in. Add the chocolate to the other half and very gently fold those in too. Cover each ball of dough and refrigerate for about 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a large baking tray with baking paper. Break off pieces of dough about 30g (1¼ oz) each and roll into balls, slightly flattening the tops. You will get about 11 of each. Put them on the tray allowing just a little space between each (they won’t spread much) and bake for just under 25 minutes, until a little golden. Remove from the oven and let cool on the tray for about 15 minutes.

Put half the icing sugar onto a tray or baking dish, or into the box where you will store the biscuits. Move the slightly cooled kourabiedes to sit in a single layer over the sugar, then sprinkle the remaining sugar over their tops, so they look like they are snowed in. They will keep in a tin, covered, for many days. (They will be very fragile when just made, so lift them carefully – after a day or so in the tin they will be easier to handle.)

Leftover icing sugar once the biscuits are eaten can be sieved out and kept in a jar for your next batch.