Chef Dimitra
Amygdalota Hydras kai Androu (Αμυγδαλωτά Ύδρας και Άνδρου)
Hydra and Andros give amygdalota their island surname: ground almond, sugar, egg white, and rosewater, baked pale so the center stays soft as marzipan.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Zacharena Symis (Ζαχαρένα Σύμης)
Created by
Symi's zacharena are yeasted Easter cookies scented with mastic and rosewater, baked dry and pale, then covered in powdered sugar until they look like small snowdrifts.
Pastries & Cookies
Greek
Easter
Holiday
Celebration
45 min
Active Time
25 min cook•3 hr 10 min total
Yield36 cookies
Zacharena Symis are Symi's Easter sugar cookies: small yeasted biscuits scented with mastiha and rosewater, baked until pale and crisp, then buried so deeply in powdered sugar that the first touch leaves your fingers white. They sit beside red eggs and tsoureki on the Dodecanese Easter table, but they are not mainland kourabiedes. No almonds, no heavy shortbread. The region is the dish's surname.
The method that decides them is the bake before the sugar. Give the dough enough time to puff, then bake the shaped cookies until they feel light and dry underneath, not merely colored on top. If they stay soft in the center, the rosewater and sugar make them pasty. If they dry properly, they drink the scent, keep their bite, and turn snowy without becoming wet.
I use mastiha lightly, one small pinch crushed with sugar, because Symi's version should smell clean and floral, not medicinal. Once baked, sprinkle the cookies with rosewater, wait a few breaths, and cover them generously. A recipe written down is a recipe saved, and this is one of the small island sweets that deserves the page.
Symi was a sponge-diving and trading island in the Dodecanese, Ottoman for centuries, Italian from 1912, and formally incorporated into Greece with the rest of the Dodecanese in 1948. Zacharena preserve that island register of Easter sweets: yeast in the dough, mastiha and rosewater from eastern Aegean trade, and powdered sugar used not as decoration but as the final coat that gives the cookie its name.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole milk
Quantity
120ml
lukewarm
active dry yeast
Quantity
7g
or 21g fresh yeast
granulated sugar
Quantity
150g
divided
all-purpose flour
Quantity
650g
plus up to 30g if needed
fine sea salt
Quantity
5g
Chios mastiha crystals (μαστίχα)
Quantity
1g
crushed with 1 teaspoon of the sugar
large eggs
Quantity
3
room temperature, about 150g without shells
unsalted butter
Quantity
120g
melted and cooled
mild extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
food-grade rosewater (ροδόνερο)
Quantity
60ml
divided
powdered sugar
Quantity
450g
sifted, for coating
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole milklukewarm | 120ml |
| active dry yeastor 21g fresh yeast | 7g |
| granulated sugardivided | 150g |
| all-purpose flourplus up to 30g if needed | 650g |
| fine sea salt | 5g |
| Chios mastiha crystals (μαστίχα)crushed with 1 teaspoon of the sugar | 1g |
| large eggsroom temperature, about 150g without shells | 3 |
| unsalted buttermelted and cooled | 120g |
| mild extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
| food-grade rosewater (ροδόνερο)divided | 60ml |
| powdered sugarsifted, for coating | 450g |
Equipment Needed
- •stand mixer with dough hook or wide kneading basin
- •two rimmed baking sheets
- •wide shallow tray for powdered sugar
- •fine-mesh sieve
Instructions
- 1
Wake the yeast
In a wide bowl or the bowl of a mixer, stir together the lukewarm milk, yeast, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and 2 tablespoons of the measured flour. Leave it for 10 minutes, until the surface looks creamy and lightly bubbled. If it sits flat, stop and replace the yeast.
- 2
Make the dough
Pound the mastiha with 1 teaspoon of the sugar until fine. Whisk the eggs with the remaining sugar until loosened, then add the melted butter, olive oil, 30ml of the rosewater, and the yeast mixture. Stir in the remaining measured flour, salt, and crushed mastiha. Knead 8 to 10 minutes, by hand or with a dough hook, until the dough is smooth, soft, and only a little tacky. Add the extra flour by the spoonful only if it smears badly on the bowl.
Too much flour makes zacharena heavy before they ever reach the oven. The dough should feel tender, not stiff. - 3
Let it rise
Cover the bowl and leave the dough in a warm corner for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until puffy and lighter. It doesn't need to double like bread. It only needs enough lift to make the finished cookie crisp and open inside.
- 4
Shape the cookies
Line two baking sheets with parchment. Pinch off pieces of dough about 28g each. Roll each one into a short rope and curve it into a loose crescent, or press it into a small oval, about 1.5cm thick. Set them 3cm apart, cover lightly, and let them rest 25 to 30 minutes, until slightly swollen.
- 5
Bake them dry
Heat the oven to 170 C / 340 F. Bake the zacharena for 22 to 25 minutes, rotating the trays once, until they are pale gold at the edges, dry underneath, and light in the hand. This is the step that decides them. The powdered sugar belongs on a dry cookie. If the center stays damp and bready, the rosewater and sugar turn it pasty. If it dries properly, it keeps its bite and takes the perfume cleanly.
- 6
Scent and sugar
Spread about half the powdered sugar in a wide shallow tray. Let the cookies stand for 5 minutes, then flick or brush the remaining 30ml rosewater over them lightly. Do not soak them. While they are still warm, turn them gently in the powdered sugar and bury them well. Move them to a rack, then sift the remaining sugar thickly over the top once they are completely cool.
- 7
Rest and serve
Let the cookies stand at least 1 hour before serving, so the sugar settles into its snowy coat. Store them in an airtight tin at cool room temperature, with parchment between layers, for up to 2 weeks. Sift a fresh veil of powdered sugar over them before they go to the Easter table.
Chef Tips
- •Buy mastiha as tears and crush it with sugar. One gram is roughly 1/2 teaspoon of small tears. More is not better here, it turns bitter and resinous.
- •Rosewater varies wildly. If yours smells sharp from the bottle, keep the dough amount as written but use a lighter hand for the finishing sprinkle. The cookie should smell floral after the bite, not announce itself from across the room.
- •These are Easter cookies, not fasting sweets. Milk, eggs, and butter belong to the feast after Lent breaks. Bake them in Holy Week if you like, then close the tin and wait. Patience is part of the calendar.
Advance Preparation
- •Crush the mastiha with sugar up to 1 week ahead and keep it sealed in a small jar.
- •Bake the cookies 3 to 5 days before Easter; they keep well, and the rosewater settles into the crumb.
- •Do the final heavy sift of powdered sugar on the day you serve them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 46g)
Calories
185 calories
Total Fat
6 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
30 mg
Sodium
75 mg
Total Carbohydrates
31 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
17 g
Protein
3 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Greek Cookies
Browse the full collection
Chef Dimitra
Chios Koulourakia Mastichas (Κουλουράκια Μαστίχας)
Chios mastiha gives these buttery koulourakia their clean pine perfume. Grind the resin with sugar first, shape simply, and bake them pale gold.
Chef Dimitra
Corfu Koutsouloi Piperatoi (Κουτσούλοι Πιπεράτοι)
Corfu's hard pepper biscuits carry black pepper, cinnamon, clove, and the island's Venetian memory in a dry little dough made for dunking, not nibbling softly.
Chef Dimitra
Cretan Koulourakia Portokaliou (Κρητικά Κουλουράκια Πορτοκαλιού)
Crete's orange koulourakia are the fasting tray cookie: olive oil, fresh juice, zest, and sesame worked into a soft dough that bakes crisp at the edge and tender inside.