Gypsy Tart vs Koulourakia: Traditional Greek Butter Cookies

Both desserts lean on butter, but they put it to very different work. In the Gypsy Tart, cold butter is rubbed into flour for a pastry case that is blind-baked until golden and dry, then filled with evaporated milk and dark brown sugar whisked for fifteen minutes into a fluffy, coffee-coloured mixture that bakes only briefly and sets as it cools. Koulourakia instead cream softened butter with sugar, adding eggs, vanilla and optional orange zest to a soft dough twisted into ropes, glazed with egg wash and baked until golden and firm. One is a deep brown-sugar slice; the other, a neat, vanilla-scented hand-held cookie.