By Billy Patramanis.
On this day in 2013, the popular Greek Christmas almond biscuit, a ‘kourabie,’ earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The Christmas biscuit was created by Greek pastry chef, Aggelos Ipokamisas, and his team. Various sponsors helped Ipokamisas create the dessert by providing both the ingredients and the machinery needed to assemble it.
The recipe included 150 eggs, 100kg of sugar, 150kg of flour, 70kg of butter, 4L of cognac and 30kg of almonds. The kourabie was created separately in certain sections, and was put together after completion into a half moon shape.
The kourabie was presented to the Guinness World Records on December 22 and was consumed at Thessaloniki’s largest Christmas Park, ‘Asterokosmos.’
The kourabie weighed in at over 300kg, smashing the previous world record of 200kg.
Asterokosmos, located in the fairgrounds of the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre, was created in 2013 as a way for the city of Thessaloniki to become a Christmas tourism destination.
