Add sugar in a pan and sprinkle just a little bit of water, to make it moist for the caramelized almonds.
Place pan on fire. As soon as the mixture boils and sugar melts, add almonds and keep stirring in high heat. First, almonds start to get sugary. Keep stirring until sugar turns into light coloured caramel.
When almonds are fully caramelized, spread them on a parchment paper and let them get cold until harden.

For kourambiedes
Begin by making the clarified butter. Clarified butter has a nice colour and is not easily burnt, therefore it is widely used in cooking too.
Cut butter into little pieces and melt it in a double boiler or microwave it on low or heat on low on the stove. As the fat melts, it is separated from the water and rises to the surface. When that happens, take a spoon and gather it from the surface. Put it in the fridge to solidify. Take it out and with a kitchen scale, measure 300g. 

Add these 300g of clarified butter in a mixer along with the powdered sugar and the seeds from the vanilla pod. Beat on high speed for 20 minutes. The more you beat the mixture the better the dough will be, and the fluffier the kourambiedes.  
Chop coarsely the caramelized almonds, lower blender speed and slowly add in the mixing bowl, flour and baking powder. 

Once integrated, add almonds and cognac or rum. Keep beating for 10 more minutes until you have a soft and homogenous dough. 
Preheat oven at 170C. Take some dough and form round kourambiedes, around 3cm in diameter.
Lay parchment paper on a baking tray and place kourambiedes. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. 

Take out of the oven and wait to cool down completely. Dip, a few at a time, in a small sized bowl containing powdered sugar. Cover kourambiedes well, take them out and place them on a serving tray.