Greek Christmas Cookies - Melomakarona

As promised I am back today so I can share with you my favorite Greek Christmas cookies recipe.

This past Sunday I baked quite a few of these traditional honey dipped cookies that we call Melomakarona. The name translates to honey macaroons - loose translation! I just can’t have Christmas without them. Yes, we have many different types of cookies that we bake during the holidays but these ones are my absolute favorite. As far as recipes there are a few variations so there is no right or wrong recipe.

I am sharing mine which I got from my sister many years ago. The uniqueness of this recipe is that it calls for a lot of ground walnuts, an ingredient I love.

Ingredients:

2 cups canola oil

1 cup sugar

6 cups unbleached white flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ cup cognac or brandy

¾ cup orange juice

¼ cup orange rind

2 cups ground walnuts

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

For the Syrup

3 cups sugar

2 ½ cups water

4 tablespoons honey

For the Top

1 cup coarsely ground walnuts

Grind the walnuts and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the sugar and oil together. If possible use a small mixer for 2-3 minutes; the sugar needs to be completely dissolved.

Dissolve the baking powder and baking soda into the brandy and add into the sugar mixture. Add the orange juice and rind. Add all the spices and ground walnuts. Gradually start adding the flour. Once the mixture starts getting too thick use your hands to mix well. The batter should not stick to your hands. It might be a bit oily because of the ground walnuts but that's perfectly fine.

Form into oval shaped cookies of about 2 1/2 inches long.

Place on baking sheets and bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until they get a golden color. There is no need to grease the baking sheets.

Let the cookies cool off completely before dipping them into the hot syrup.

Preparing the syrup is quite easy. In a saucepan combine the sugar, water and honey. On high heat let it come to a boil then reduce the heat to medium-low. Let it simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Dip the cookies in syrup for about a minute. Place on a serving platter and sprinkle some ground walnuts on top.

I would like to share some tips with you regarding the storage of these cookies and/or preparing them ahead of time. We can all find recipes but I believe finding tips and tricks of cooking certain things is much harder. I hope you find these tips helpful.

You can simply bake these cookies weeks ahead of time.

Bake them and let them cool off completely. Don't dip them into syrup so you can   store them in airtight containers separating each layer of cookies with parchment paper. Store them in the freezer until you are ready to serve them. Once you are ready to use them, take them out to defrost for a couple of hours, dip them in hot syrup, sprinkle ground walnuts on top and serve.

If you want to bake them during the holidays you can easily bake them a week ahead of time and even dip them in syrup. Simply put them on a platter and put some plastic over them and that’s all they need as far as storing.

They will be tasty during the whole holiday season if they last that long :-).

Since these cookies have no butter or eggs they do not need any refrigeration.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

They are also wonderful for sharing with friends and family. I usually make extra so I can give to friends!

Litsa