Customary festive dessert that brings luck since it has almonds, walnuts, honey, herbs and sesame.
Sweets with many seeds, according to tradition give joy to the home that are made and to those who share them. The katimeria, are found in many variations, in different regions of our country. In Kos island we fill them with local cheese, honey and cinnamon, the women from Smyrni bathe them with syrup and in the Peloponnese they are stuffed with sweet cream and nuts or dried figs. In Central Greece the stuffing has pumpkin, raisins and walnuts and in the Kastanochoria area, the chestnut cream gives a distinctive flavor.
We give you the most delicious recipe from the mainland—Aetoloakarnania. Enjoy..
Katimeri from Aetoloakarnania
From Persefoni, of the restaurant “The mansion of Persefonis” in Messolongi
Ingredients
700 gr sifted flour for all uses
300 ml olive oil
200 gr chopped almonds
200 gr coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp cinnamon grated
15 gr clove grated
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 tbsp roasted sesame
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Some salt
1 shot brandy or orange liqueur
Some water
For the syrup
1 liter of water
500 gr sugar
2 tablespoons honey
Method of preparation
Put in the mixer water together with the sifted flour, sugar, olive oil and salt and beat with the whisk until you achieve a pliable dough that unsticks from your hands.
Cut the dough into balls and cover with a towel.
Let it “rest” for 30 minutes.
Prepare the filling.
In a bowl put the walnuts, almonds, sesame seeds, breadcrumbs, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and finally cognac. Mix well until the mix is homogeneous.
Roll out with a rolling pin sheets that should be relatively thin. For greater ease of opening we sprinkle also the rolling pin and the surface we roll the sheet.
Sprinkle with olive oil and in the middle put the filling.
Make it a roll and then turn it in a round shape.
Put them in a baking pan all around.
In a skillet, heat well the olive oil and pour it all over the katimeria to give them a nice color.
Put the pan in a well preheated oven and bake at 180 °C for 30 minutes.
We leave our sweets to cool and we make a pot of syrup. Pour the water and sugar and after it has begun to thicken then add honey.
Mix well and as the syrup is hot pour it on our sweets that have already cooled.
After a while cut the katimeri into pieces.
The taste…
