Honey-Drenched Orange and Spice Cookies (Melomakarona)

These honey-drenched orange and spice cookies (melomakarona), are always made during the Christmas holiday season in Greece. They are pretty easy to make and it works best when there are many helping hands around to help!

A few days ago, I held a demonstration class at the cooking school called, “Traditional Greek Cooking”. These cookies were the sweet ending to a very satisfying meal. The students couldn’t have enough of them!  As they were picking up the last bits of the toasted walnuts and licking their fingers, those who knew about my blog suggested to write a post about them.

These are not your typical cookies that you bake and eat right away (tempting as that may be). It is important that they sit for a while to let the flavors develop and to let the honey syrup penetrate the cookies thoroughly.  While traditionally served at Christmas time, these cookies are now available in many Greek pastry shops and bakeries year ’round.

Honey-Drenched Orange and Spice Cookies (Melomakarona)

 

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Prep time

35 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

1 hour

 

Author: Marilena Leavitt

Recipe type: Greek Christmas Cookies

Cuisine: Greek

Serves: 50-60 cookies

Ingredients

• For the cookies:
• 1½ cups olive oil
• ½ cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. orange zest
• 1 cup fresh orange juice
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 8 cups all purpose flour
• For the syrup:
• 1 cup honey
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• 4 strips of orange peel, about ½" wide
• For the topping:
• 1½ cups finely chopped toasted walnuts
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ground cloves (optional)

Instructions

1. In a stand mixer, beat the first 5 ingredients on high, for 4 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda. With the motor running, slowly add the flour mixture to the liquid ingredients. The dough should feel soft and oily and will hold its shape. Do not over mix. Cover and set aside.
3. Make the the syrup: mix together all four ingredients is a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature and simmer for five minutes, occasionally skimming the foam as it forms. Remove from the heat and let it cool.
4. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Form the dough into oblong shapes about 2" long and ½" high and arrange on the cookie sheet. (Alternatively, form little balls, about 1" like the ones in the photo).
5. Bake at 350° F for about 25 minutes, or until lightly brown.
6. While the cookies bake, prepare the topping, place in a small bowl and set aside.
7. Remove the cookies from the oven. One by one, drop the hot cookies in the saucepan with the cooled syrup. Gently move them around the saucepan for about 20 seconds, in order to absorb some of the syrup. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and place them on a platter..
8. Sprinkle with the mixture of walnuts, cinnamon, and cloves. You can pile them into a pyramid shape on the platter if you like, sprinkling every layer with the walnuts. Any leftover syrup may be drizzled over the cookies.

Notes

You can cover the melomakarona loosely with plastic wrap and store at room temperature. They might get a bit softer, but they will stay fresh for up to a week.

This recipe makes a lot of melomakarona, but you can easily half the recipe.

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