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Greek Olive Oil Cinnamon Cookies – Kolourakia Lathiou

ByElena Paravantes, MS, RD

These delicious crunchy Greek cookies are only made with olive oil. Perfect little bites to go with your coffee or tea.

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Greek olive oil cookies koulourakia

So Greeks love olive oil and they use a lot of it, actually the most from any other country. One of the reasons is because here in Greece, most recipes use olive oil even in desserts. Greeks fasted from animal products for religious reasons for over 200 days a year, so that meant many recipes with olive oil and no eggs or dairy. One of those sweet recipes are the much-loved Greek olive oil cookies.

We call them koulourakia lathiou. Koulouri means something that has a circular shape and lathiou refers to the fact that they are made with lathi which means oil.

These wonderful, crunchy cookies are only made with olive oil, sugar and flour-no eggs, butter or milk. I added cinnamon and a bit of orange juice, used some brown sugar and then dipped them in a sugar cinnamon mixture. I also like them a bit small and thin, this makes them crunchier and cuter in my opinion and perfect to dip in my Greek coffee.

These are easy to make, they require no mixer and bake in about 15-17 minutes. You only need to be careful when adding the flour; start with a less amount and then gradually add until you have a soft dough that is slightly wet, but definitely not dry otherwise you will have a crumbly dough and will not be able to roll them in these pretty shapes.

These are fairly low-fat and it’s the good fat too! They last for days in a cookie jar.

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Greek Olive Oil Cinnamon Cookies – Kolourakia Lathiou

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Crunchy Greek cookies are only made with olive oil, sugar and flour. Perfect little bites to go with your coffee or tea.
Course: cookies, Dessert
Cuisine: Greek, Mediterranean, Vegan
Keyword: Greek olive oil cookies
Servings: 40 cookies
Author: Elena Paravantes, MS, RD
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Ingredients

  • ½ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup white sugar + more for sprinkling
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup orange juice
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon + more for sprinkling

Instructions

  • Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 Celsius).
  • In a large bowl mix the olive oil, sugar and orange juice with a large wooden spoon.
  • In a smaller bowl mix the flour with baking powder, soda and cinnamon.
  • Start adding the flour to the olive oil mixture gradually mixing with the spoon. You should have a soft dough, but not sticky so you can roll into circular shapes. Be careful not to add more than needed. –I added a about 2 more tablespoons to get the right consistency, but it depends.
  • Cover the dough and let it sit for 10 minutes.
  • Grease a pan with a bit of olive oil.
  • Make the cinnamon sugar mixture by mixing 2 tablespoons of sugar with ½ teaspoon cinnamon, blend well.
  • Start making your shapes. For little cookies, I take about a teaspoon of dough and roll it out in a thin cord and then make the shapes. Dip into the cinnamon-sugar mixture on both sides-place on the pan.
  • Bake for about 15-17 minutes.
  • Let them cool and remove.

Image © 2016 Elena Paravantes

Elena Paravantes, MS, RDN is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist by the U.S. Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR). She is an expert on the Mediterranean Diet. She has been active as a clinician, consultant, author and lecturer for 20 years, both in the U.S. and Greece. An expert on the Greek Mediterranean Diet, her interviews and articles have been published in many publications including CNN, U.S. News and World Report, Prevention, NPR, and Shape. Elena has collaborated with a number of organizations including Loyola University, Yale University, University of Missouri, Louisiana State University, and the American College of Greece. Elena earned her Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition and Dietetics and her Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds has a Master’s Degree of Science in Health Management.

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35 Comments

  2. yes its clean monday and i just made them also. added quite a bit more flour and mine not so crunchy so put them back in the oven for five more minutes. perhaps made them bigger than i should. but they are very tasty

    Reply

  4. Hello, I just made these with my kids for „Clean Monday“ in Athens and it is amazing. Thank you so much!!!

    Reply

  5. HI! I LOVE THIS RECIPE! S0 DELICIOUS! I have made them twice now but each time I am having trouble with the dough separating while I roll them out! The first time I did 2 cups of flour plus 2 tablespoons more . They cracked so bad I could only form stick shape. Today I added 3 tablespoons of flour to the 2 cups and still had to make sticks! I started with fold over shape and the dough split while rolling so I made sticks again with 2nd tray. and they are cracked! what am I doing wrong? I am planning to make them again next week for a friend!

    Reply

    1. Hi Stassa,You may be adding too much flour. Start with 1 1/2 cup of flour and continue adding the flour until you have a soft, pliable, smooth and shiny dough that does not stick to your hands. Put some olive oil on your fingers to avoid the sticking. Also note that depending on the humidity where you live you may need to add less or more flour.

  6. I love these cookies and have made several batches, the basic dough is friendly to all kinds of variations, like crushed fennel seed. So nice with a glass of wine like vinsanto, or a glass of ouzo! Thank you for this lovely recipe. I’d love to know how to pronounce the name…My guess: koo loo rah KI a la THI ou. Am I even close? Epharisto!5 stars

    Reply

  7. I just stumbled upon this recipe and am so glad I did! Loved these! Not too sweet and love the olive oil and cinnamon.5 stars

    Reply

  8. This has been my favorite cookie recipe since it was first posted. I play with it a bit and mix flours: King Arthur white whole wheat (my favorite flour for cookies), and others. This week I made them with half whole wheat and half bread flours. I also use turbinado sugar with the cinnamon for sprinkling. This week I did not have orange juice, so I squeezed a bit of fresh and then topped that off with triple sec to make the 1/2 cup. Delicious every time, and it’s a bonus that they are vegan for one of my daughters, who now bakes these as well.5 stars

    Reply

  9. They are absolutely amazing, altough I had to use a lot more flower not to be sticky the dough. My antras loved them so now I will make them again Thank you!5 stars

    Reply

  10. The cookies turned out great!! Wish I could post you a picture. Thanks for your hard work putting all the on here!❤️

    Reply

    2. I know this is a little late, but I made these this morning & they’re perfect! Not too sweet, great with coffee, and you don’t even need to grease a cookie sheet (they don’t stick because of the oil). Will be making these often, thank you!5 stars

    2. We are gluten free and dairy free in our house. I made these cookies with King Arthur Gluten Free Flour. Added 1/2 tsp. xanathan gum, and then had to add about four more tbs of flour and 1/8 more xanathan gum in step 4. Because the dough was soft, I sprinkled the cinnamon sugar mixture on my counter and then rolled the cookies, which helped to hold them together. They came out very really well and are quite delish. Thank you for the recipe, Elena.

  15. Can’t wait to try your recipe. Love cinnamon kolourakia. The recipe I have in Greek says, “flour, as much as it takes.” LOL I like exact measurements. Yours are prettier!

    Reply

    2. I made three batches this week. One trial batch since it had been years since I made koulourakia. Two I took for coffee hour at church. They all disappeared quickly! Thanks for the recipe.