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Flour power
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ROBERT K. YOSAY | THE VINDICATOR: Dorothy Kippner places the koulourakia in an oven at St. John’s Greek Orthodox Church on Glenwood Avenue., when the church women met recently to bake for their annual cookie fundraiser.
By Sean Barron
BOARDMAN
If you feel like buttering someone up but lack the fine art of flattery, you could try koulourakia instead.
“These are our most popular cookies,” said Deanna Vallos of Boardman, referring to the Greek butter cookies twisted like pretzels.
The treats were among eight such cookies made by Vallos and other members of St. John’s Philoptolos (Ladies Society) at St. John’s Greek Orthodox Church, 4955 Glenwood Ave.
The women began baking in late October in preparation for their annual holiday cookie fundraiser that took place earlier this month to raise money to benefit the church as well as the New York City-based National Philoptochos Society, which donates money to those in need, Vallos noted.
Most recently, she and seven other women were at the church preparing paximathakia, which is similar to a biscotti cookie. The women spent about five hours making four batches.
The others were Helen Fliotsos, Katherine Strakis, Georgia Davis, Eleni Kasamias, Joanne Harrold, Bess Beck and Nicki Papanikolaou, the group’s chairwoman.
None of the women had designated duties as they launched into the step-by-step process of making the paximathakia cookies, which contain flour, sugar, butter, eggs, canola oil and nuts baked at 325 to 350 degrees between 25 and 27 minutes. Instead, they operated in assembly-line fashion as they busily mixed, shaped and cut the dough.
“That feels good,” Davis said as she tested the batter’s consistency in a large commercial mixer before someone else broke the material into 1-pound portions.
From there, Papanikolaou and a few others shaped, flattened and stretched it on large trays, forming five or six 15-inch log-shaped elongations. Then Kasamias, a 27-year church member, took a knife to “score” the material, meaning she made shallow, angled slits in the dough to mark where it should be cut after baking.
“You buy the mix and throw it together,” Harrold said in summing up what for some would appear a complicated process that also includes placing the cookie slices on their sides and briefly toasting them.
Funds have been used to help families in need and have gone toward Hurricane Katrina and other disaster-relief projects, she said. The women also use the funds to serve a community lunch the second Saturday of each month.
Last year, the women’s efforts raised close to $7,000, Vallos said, adding that she and the others feel good about helping those less fortunate.