MELOMAKARONA

Greek Honey Christmas Cookies

The melomakarono is an egg-shaped Greek dessert made mainly from flour, olive oil, and honey.
Along with the kourabiedes it is a traditional dessert prepared primarily during the Christmas holiday season. They are also known as finikia.
Historically, melomakarona are thought to be derived from the ancient and medieval makaria, which were eaten during funerals. Gradual changes in the recipe and the addition of dipping them in honey led to melomakarona which etymologically is derived from the Greek word for honey “meli” and “makaria”.

Typical ingredients of the melomakarono are flour or semolina, sugar, orange zest and/or fresh juice, cognac (or similar beverage), cinnamon, crushed or ground clove and olive oil. During rolling they are often filled with ground walnuts. Immediately after baking, they are immersed for a few seconds in cold syrup made of honey and sugar dissolved in water. Finally, they are decorated with ground, as well as bigger pieces of walnut. Dark chocolate-covered melomakarona are also a more recent variation of the traditional recipe.

Crockery & ingredients love using—find them all here:My Mediterranean Greek Pantry

For syrup

500 ml water
800 g granulated sugar
150 g honey
3 cinnamon sticks
3 whole cloves
1 orange, cut in half

For cookies

300g olive oil
300g sunflower oil
50g cognac liquor
160g fresh orange juice
50g of sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground clove
2 tsp cinnamon
2 oranges (zest)

1 kg  all purpose flour
200 g fine semolina

Walnuts

Directions

Prepare the Syrup

In a saucepan, combine water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and orange halves. Boil until the sugar dissolves.

Remove from heat, add honey, and stir until fully combined.

Let the syrup cool completely for at least 3–4 hours. (Tip: you can prepare it the day before.)

Preheat oven to 190°C (370°F) fan.

In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, sunflower oil, cognac, orange zest, sugar, cinnamon, and clove.

In a glass, dissolve the baking soda in the orange juice. Add to the mixture and stir gently.

In another bowl, mix the flour and semolina. Combine the dry mixture with the wet mixture. Mix by hand very gently for no more than 10 seconds – just until combined. (Overmixing will cause the dough to split.)

Shape the dough into small ovals, about 3–4 cm long (30 g each). Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 20–25 minutes, until dark golden brown and crunchy.Finish1. While still hot, dip the cookies in the cooled syrup for about 10 seconds.

Place on a wire rack to drain.

Drizzle with honey and sprinkle generously with chopped walnuts.

Note: Be careful not to overwork the cookie dough because the oil may start to seep out and then they won’t turn out crispy! The orange used for the syrup should a whole fresh orange, cut in half!

GREEK HONEY ATTIKI