Melomakarona
Honey-soaked spiced cookies- Yield
- About 36 cookies
- Active
- 45 minutes
- Total
- 1 1/2 hours
- Difficulty
- Medium
The story
The name melomakarona joins two Greek words — “meli” (honey) and “makaria,” the bread handed out at funeral meals in ancient and medieval times in memory of the dead, a name related to “makarios” (blessed); sweetened with honey, it passed over time from the funeral meal to the holiday table. These honey cookies, made with olive oil, soaked in syrup, and sprinkled with walnuts, owe their moist, dense texture to the olive oil that takes the place of butter in the dough; right after baking, while still hot, they are dipped briefly in a cooled syrup of honey and water so that the syrup soaks all the way through. In the south and east of the country, especially on some of the islands, there is a related cookie called finikia, set apart by the semolina added to the dough and sometimes fried or filled rather than simply baked — a difference that fuels local debates over whether finikia and melomakarona are really the same thing under two names or two different sweets. For Greek families in the diaspora, melomakarona are almost universally the first cookie that comes to mind with a Greek Christmas.
This recipe contains alcohol. It is meant for adults of legal drinking age.
Ingredients
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1/4 cup brandy
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup ground walnuts
- For the syrup: 1 1/2 cups honey, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1 cinnamon stick
- Extra chopped walnuts and cinnamon, for topping
Method
- Make the syrup first so it has time to cool: simmer the honey, sugar, water, and cinnamon stick together for 5 minutes, then set aside to cool completely.
- Whisk together the olive oil, sugar, orange juice, orange zest, and brandy. Dissolve the baking soda into the mixture.
- Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, and cloves, then gradually mix into the wet ingredients along with the ground walnuts to form a soft, slightly sticky dough.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Shape the dough into small oval cookies, about 1 1/2 tablespoons each, and place on parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Bake 18–20 minutes, until firm and lightly golden.
- As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, dip them a few at a time into the cooled syrup for 10–15 seconds per side, letting them soak it up, then lift out onto a platter. Hot cookies and cool syrup keep them moist without falling apart.
- Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and a little cinnamon while still moist with syrup.