Melomakarona (μελομακάρονα) or Greek Christmas cookies23
Prep Time: .5 hr | Serves 4
Melomakarona (μελομακάρονα) or Greek Christmas cookies23
Melomakarona (μελομακάρονα) are traditional Greek Christmas cookies, that are served during Christmas time throughout Greece. The word “melomakarona” is a combination of the two words “meli”, which means honey and “makarona”. “Makarona” comes from the ancient word “makaria” and means blessed.
Melomakarona - Traditional Greek Christmas CookiesAs traditional classic Greek biscuits, they are made with flavours of orange, cinnamon and walnut making them very aromatic and full of flavour. The biscuits are cooked and then submerged in a honey syrup, providing a soft, delicate and crumbly texture.
This recipe for Melomakarona is by our very dear friends at the Hellenic Odyssey (@Thehellenicodyssey ) and is super simple to make but
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INGREDIENTS
Biscuit
3 cups Plain Olympian flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup Grapeseed Oil
3/4 cup Castor sugar
1/2 cup Orange juice
1/2 cup Brandy
1 tsp Olympian Cinnamon (heaped)
1/2 tsp Ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground cloves
Syrup
1 cup Honey
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Water
1 Cinnamon quill
2-3 Whole cloves
Topping
1/2 cup Crushed Walnuts
1 tsp Olympian Cinnamon sugar
METHOD
In a saucepan simmer the sugar and water for 6 -7 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the honey. Let the syrup cool completely.
Preheat oven to 180C. Line 2 oven trays and put to the side.
Mix oil and sugar with a hand whisk for about 2 minutes. Then add juice, brandy, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove to the mixture and combine well.
Combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl. Slowly add 2 cups to the wet mixture then add the remainder, bit by bit until you are able to roll the dough in your hands without any stickiness.
Form tablespoons of the mixture in a ball and then taper out into an oblong shape. Slightly flatten each biscuit and with a fork press again to lightly form a pattern on the top.
Place in the oven and bake until golden brown, approximately 20 minutes.
Meanwhile mix the extra walnuts and cinnamon sugar in a bowl and set aside.
When the biscuits are ready, place them while still hot into the cool syrup for about 60 seconds and set aside. Top with walnuts mix.
Enjoy!
