When brothers Daniel and Luke Mancuso from Melbourne lost their beloved mother, Teresa, in a horrific domestic violence incident, the Greek grandmother next door stepped in and began looking after them, passing home-cooked meals over the fence and making sure they were well-fed.

This simple act of kindness from the grandmother, known as YiaYia to the two, helped them navigate the fog of grief that followed.

Now, the two boys and their guardian angel in the form of YiaYia are winning the hearts of people all over Australia as they have started sharing on social media the various recipes they have enjoyed over the years.

YiaYia Next Door, Daniel and Luke's social enterprise, encourages individuals and communities to create an environment where people can feel safe from violence and neighbours can engage and look out for one another.

The brothers recently appeared on The Morning Show and demonstrated how to make one of their favourite recipes, YiaYia's homemade kourabiethes, also known as Greek moon biscuits.

Yiayia would often pass homemade kourabiethes (moon biscuits) over the fence. Credit: SBS/Mark Roper.
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If you are interested in creating this recipe at home, the following is a list of the ingredients that you will need:

• 250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 160g (1 cup) pure icing sugar, plus extra for coating
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar
• 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 525g (3 ½ cups) self-raising flour, plus extra if needed and for dusting
• 25ml ouzo (dry anise-flavoured aperitif)

And here are the steps to follow:

To begin, preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (or 150 degrees Celsius with a fan-forced setting) and grease a wide baking tray.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the butter, icing sugar, and vanilla sugar until smooth. Mix in the egg until combined, then stir in the flour. Mix in the ouzo, then knead the dough in the bowl with your hands until smooth, adding a little more flour if it's still sticky.

Next, flour your work surface lightly. Take a handful of dough and shape it into a 2-inch-thick disc. Cut out half-moon shapes with a small coffee cup or a 6 cm round cookie cutter, then gently flatten them to about 1 cm thick with your hands. Repeat with the rest of the dough until you've made around 25 biscuits.

Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before dipping the biscuits in icing sugar to completely coat.

For the best experience, serve them with your favourite cup of tea or coffee! Any leftover moon biscuits will keep for 5 days in an airtight container in the pantry.

You can also refer to the video below as a guide for making the recipe:

Credit: Yiayia Maria.​

 

[terri]

Doesnt have to be a huge gesture to change someone's life. Experiencing such trauma can be life changing. So can a small kindness. These boys are so blessed to have a caring neighbour.

 

[Ricci]

I saw this on News Breakfast a couple of weeks ago, a lovely story, we all need neighbours like her and it 's lovely to see how much she is valued by these two young men.