KATIMERIA

(CINNAMON PASTRIES)

MAKES 18-20 | PREPARATION TIME: 30 MINUTES, PLUS 30 MINUTES RESTING TIME | COOKING TIME: 15-20 MINUTES

My mum’s cinnamon pastries are lovely with a Greek coffee or a cup of English tea. I trialled this at home because my mum’s recipe said ‘a glass of oil.’ When I asked more about the glass, she said: ‘the one we drink water from!’

INGREDIENTS

For the pastry

500g self-raising flour

Pinch of fine salt

1 tsp baking powder

125g OliveOlive extra virgin olive oil

150ml lukewarm water

For the filling

100g roughly ground almonds

2 tsp ground cinnamon

50g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting

50ml extra virgin olive oil

METHOD

For the pastry

Add the flour, salt, and baking powder to a bowl. Pour in the olive oil, then gradually add the water while using your hands to bring everything together until the mixture forms a dough. You may not need all the water, or you may need a little more. Leave the pastry to rest for 30 minutes.

For the filling

Mix the almonds, cinnamon, and sugar together in a bowl. Pour the olive oil into a small cup (my mum says a Greek coffee cup will do!) and set aside. Preheat the oven to 200°c/180°c fan/Gas Mark 6.

Shape the pastry into a large tube and cut into 9 or 10 slices. Roll each slice out into thin rectangular sheets about 35 by 15cm, then cut each sheet into two smaller rectangles; this will make two katimeria. You should have 18 to 20 sheets in total.

Take a sheet, brush it with olive oil and sprinkle some of the almond and cinnamon filling over the whole rectangle using a teaspoon. Roll up the pastry from the bottom to the top so you have a tube, then roll the tube into a spiral. Repeat this process with all the pastry sheets.

Place the pastries on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden. Remove them from the oven and leave to cool on a wire tray. Sprinkle the pastries with a little caster sugar before serving.