‘Melomakarono’ is the other major Greek Christmas dessert next to ‘Kourampies’. In this case honey is the basic ingredient giving also the name to the dessert: melo-.. from meli (μέλι, Greek word for ‘honey’). Apart from honey, cinnamon is also big contributor here and of course syrup and walnuts.. As a person, I’m not the biggest fan of desserts/sweets in general (chocolate doesn’t count, it’s a kind on its own), but ‘melomakarona’, when they are cautiously made in terms of honey and sugar, can be highly addictive! Beware!

the recipe

ingredients

(for 55 pieces – 2,5-3 kilos)

for the cookies dough

• 250ml. olive oil
• 250ml. sunflower oil
• 200ml. fresh orange juice
• 100ml. cognac (or a liquor you like)
• 40gr. sugar
• 40gr. honey
• 1 kilo all purpose flour
• 160gr. fine semolina
• 8gr. baking powder
• 1tsp. baking soda
• 3tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2tsp. clove powder

for the syrup

• 500ml. water
• 700gr. sugar
• 1 orange cut in half
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 100gr. honey

You will need also some walnuts (50gr.) cut in small pieces to sprinkle the cookies in the final stage.

directions

You need to have clod syrup and warm cookies, so start with the syrup first!

for the syrup

• Put all ingredients apart from the honey in a pot and warm up till it starts boiling. Let it boil for 1′ and remove from the stove. Add then the honey and stir until the honey melts. Keep aside and let the syrup get completely cold (moving it in a new cold pot could help lower its temperature a bit faster).

for the cookies

• Preheat the oven at 160 degrees C using air mode.
• Add both oils, orange juice and cognac in a big bowl. Add to that the sugar, honey, cinnamon and clove powder and stir with your hand.
• In a separate bowl mix the flour, semolina, baking powder and baking soda. Start adding the flour mix little by little to the bowl with all the liquids and mix slightly and really for a few seconds with your hand. You should not knead the dough, mixing so that all ingredients come together would be enough, otherwise the oil will separate from the dough.
• Shape small oval cookies (30gr.) with your hands and place them to a pan covered with baking paper. Using a fork make some wholes on the top side of the cookies.
• Bake for 25′ until they get a brown color (depends also on your oven). When ready, take them out from the oven and put them (every4-5 of them) in the pot with the cold syrup. Turn them round and round with a fork for some seconds so that they’re well soaked in syrup and then remove them, place them in a big flat plate or pan and sprinkle with the cut walnuts and..

Enjoy!

Tips!

• Some extra honey could be also added in the end, depending on how much sweetness you can take !