MELOMAKARONA

Greek Honey Christmas Cookies

 

 

Melomakarona are one of the most popular treats throughout Greece during the Christmas …

The melomakarono is an egg-shaped Greek dessert made mainly from flour, olive oil, and honey.
Along with the Kourabies it is a traditional dessert prepared primarily during the Christmas holiday season.

 

ingredients:
For syrup:

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

 

 

1.

*400 ml orange juice
*400 ml sunflower oil
*180 ml Olive Oil
*50 g caster sugar
*½ teaspoon ground cloves
*2-3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
*¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
*1 teaspoon baking soda
*grated zest of 2 oranges

 

2.

*1 kg  all purpose flour
*200 g fine semolina

 

 

Directions:

 

For the syrup:

Boil all of the ingredients for the syrup, apart from honey, until sugar melts. Remove from heat. Add the honey and mix till combined.
let syrup cool for 3-4 hours. It must be cold by the time the cookies come out from the oven.
You can prepare the syrup from the day before…

 

For the cookies:

Preheat the oven to 190* C (370*F) Fan.
To make the cookies, you need to prepare 2 separate mixtures.
For the first mixture, add all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix, using a hand whisk.
In a separate bowl, add all of the ingredients for the second mixture.
Combine the first and second mixture.
Mix by hand, very gently and for a very short time (10 seconds at the most). If you mix longer the mixture will split or curdle.
Mold cookie dough into oval shapes, 3-4 cm in long, 30 g each. Try to keep them as similar as possible.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until they are crunchy and dark golden brown.
As soon as you remove them from the oven, soak the hot cookies in the syrup for 10 seconds.
Allow them to drain on a wire rack.  Drizzle with honey and 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!

 

Recipe adapted from Akis Petretzikis

 

 

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DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?
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