Aki’s Spiced Christmas Cookies in Syrup! (Melomakarona)

1 hour

Preparation Time

80

Portion(s)

3

Difficulty

Method

These amazingly aromatic little cakes are a traditional Greek Christmas sweet…called "Melomakarona". Your house will be filled with aromas of orange, honey, cinnamon and cloves… Each bite is so deliciously Christmassy…it will become an instant personal favorite!
For the syrup:

• Boil all of the ingredients for the syrup, apart from honey, for 3-4 hours. This is done so that by the time the cookies come out of the oven, the syrup will have cooled.
• When the syrup is ready, remove from heat and add the honey. Stir and set aside to cool completely.

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.

Tip

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!  

Ingredients

For syrup:

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

 1st mixture:

• 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

2nd mixture:

• 1 kilo all-purpose flour
• 200 g fine semolina

See here: Kitchen Lab by Akis Petretzikis