Melomakarona (Greek honey cookies)

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5 from 3 votes

Melomakarona (Greek honey cookies)

These traditional Greek cookies are a tasty mix of flavors - perfect for any cookie plate!

Prep Time30

Cook Time20

Total Time50

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Greek

Servings: (approx)

Calories: 106kcal

Author: Caroline's Cooking

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Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour plain flour
½ cup semolina
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves allspice a good substitute, if you don't have ground cloves
6 tablespoon sugar
½ orange zest ie from ½ orange
½ cup orange juice
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon brandy

For the dipping syrup

½ cup honey
¼ cup sugar
¾ cup water
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
3 cloves (optional)

To top

¼ cup walnuts ground, to top

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.
In a medium-large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, apart from the sugar, ie flour, semolina, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves.
Rub the orange zest into the sugar in a separate large bowl- it should become slightly soft and fragrant. (This helps to bring out the flavor from the oils.)
Add the oil, orange juice and brandy to the sugar and mix well.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix to combine.
Take spoonfuls of the mixture and form egg-like ovals and place on a lined baking sheet. Press the mixture together pretty firmly in your hands to get it to hold well. If you like, form a criss-cross on top of each cookie with the prongs of a fork.
Bake the cookies until firm and lightly golden, around 20 minutes.
While the cookies bake, make the dipping syrup by warming the honey, sugar and water until the sugar dissolves and it starts to simmer. You can optionally add a cinnamon stick and cloves to help infuse it with a bit of spice. Let the syrup simmer 5-10 minutes then remove from heat. Let it cool and skim away any foam.
If your walnuts are not already crushed, put them in the food processor and pulse until they are relatively fine crumbs.
Dip the cookies in the syrup while they are still warm in small batches (say 3-5 at a time). Let them soak on both sides for 30 seconds to a minute before taking them out and placing on a lined baking sheet.
Immediately sprinkle on some walnuts and leave to dry.

Video

Notes

Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature - they should keep a few days just fine. If you don't want to use a full cup of extra virgin olive oil, you can substitute up to half with non- extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil, but all EVOO will give the best flavor.

Nutrition