This year Valentine’s Day fell on the very same night that for the past six years my literary fiction book group has met. I had a tough choice to make; eat a romantic dinner with my husband or moderate a discussion of Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot. In the end I did what any lifelong, insatiable reader would do. I baked a batch of Greek cookies, invited Sean to the book group and spent the evening with some of my favorite people, treats and activities.

The cookies that I baked are kourabiedes. Reminiscent of shortbread cookies, these crescent-shaped sweets are usually consumed at holidays and special occasions. Hence my decision to serve them on Valentine’s Day. Okay, that isn’t the only reason behind my making them. Flavored with splashes of vanilla extract and anise liqueur and blanketed with soft, fluffy confectioner’s sugar, they have been my cookie of choice since the ninth grade.

My addiction started in the home of one of my closest childhood friends. The daughter of Greek immigrants and restaurant owners, Nickie always had access to the most amazing baked goods. Drop by my parents’ house and you’d receive store-bought cupcakes or chips. Go over to Nickie’s and you’d enjoy platters of freshly baked baklava and those wonderfully velvety, powdered sugar-laden kourabiedes.

It took only one bite to hook me for life. Thanks to Nickie’s mom, for years I brought plates of these cookies home to my parents. After college I made numerous trips back to the East Coast with boxes of them. At my wedding reception kourabiedes featured prominently at the cookie table. In recent years, when traveling through Greece, I’ve made sure to sample every bakery’s, market’s and truck stop’s version. Yeah, I’m completely smitten.

Even if you never travel to Greece or become, like me, “Greek by osmosis,” you can easily create these divine sweets. Just mix together a simple cookie dough and flavor it with vanilla and a shot of ouzo. Roll out the dough and, using either a cookie cutter or water glass, cut out a series of crescents. Bake, shake sugar over the top and enjoy. It’s that simple.

Fittingly enough, my recipe comes from the woman who inspired this lifelong love of kourabiedes. From her kitchen to mine to yours . . .

KOURABIEDES
Recipe courtesy of Vasiliki Kolovos
Makes about 4 dozen

2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing baking sheets
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 tablespoons ouzo (anise-flavored liqueur)
About 2 cups flour, divided and sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two baking sheets and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and egg yolk and continue beating until well blended. Add the vanilla and ouzo and beat until combined.

Mix 1 cup flour with the baking powder and add this to the butter mixture. Add about another 1 cup flour, a little at a time. You may need less — or more — flour to make a dough that is supple but not sticky.

Place the dough on a flat, flour-dusted work surface and roll it out so that it’s 1/2-inch thick. To make crescent shaped cookies, use either a crescent-shaped cookie cutter or the lip of a water glass. If using a glass, place roughly half of the lip onto the dough and press downward. Alternatively, use the glass to make circles or with your hands roll dough into small balls.

Put the cookies 1 inch apart on the greased baking sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops are light brown. Cool for 5 minutes, then remove the cookies from the sheets, place them on cooling racks and generously sift confectioners’ sugar over top.