Maritozzi con la Panna (Sweet Buns with Cream) vs Koulourakia: Traditional Greek Butter Cookies

Both desserts draw on butter, eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and orange zest, yet they end up in very different places. Maritozzi start from a kneaded, twice-proofed yeast dough scented with orange, baked into soft, puffy buns that are split and generously filled with heavy cream whipped with powdered sugar and vanilla. Koulourakia instead cream a generous amount of butter with sugar, rise with baking powder, and are twisted into ropes that bake golden and firm, with vanilla in the dough and orange zest only optional. One is pillowy and cream-laden; the other is a buttery cookie made for keeping.