Melomakarona Recipe (Greek Honey Cookies)
Melomakarona are Greek honey cookies that are soft with a pleasant orange cinnamon scent. These cookies are soaked in a spiced honey syrup and topped with crushed walnuts. You can make them ahead of time and enjoy them for the holidays.
Servings: 40 cookies
Ingredients
Orange Honey Syrup:
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 orange
Melomakarona Cookies:
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup fine semolina
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 cup orange juice plus 2 tablespoons
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp honey
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup neutral flavored oil such as avocado oil or grapeseed oil
To top:
- 1/2 cup crushed walnuts
Instructions
- To make the syrup, place the water, sugar, honey, cinnamon stick and cloves in a sauce pan. Zest the orange using a zester or a microplane and add it to the mixture. Place the saucepan over medium high heat and bring it to a boil. Then lower the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and let the syrup cool completely.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a bowl mix the flour with semolina, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Set it aside.
- In a large bowl whisk the orange juice with the granulated sugar, honey, olive oil and grapeseed oil.
- Add the flour mixture to the orange juice and honey mixture and combine using a wooden spoon and later your hands. Mix just enough for the ingredients to incorporate and make sure not to overwork the dough.
- Grab about 1 1/2 tbsp of the cookie dough and shape it into an oval ball. Then press it gently on a cookie rack and place it on the baking sheet. If you don't have a cookie rack, place the cookie dough on the baking sheet and pierce it a couple of times with a fork. This is for the cookies to absorb the syrup better later. Repeat the steps with the remaining cookie dough.
- Bake the cookies for 25 minutes until they're lightly brown at the bottom.
- Take the cookies out of the oven and immediately soak them in the cool syrup. You can let the cookies soak for up to 20 seconds.
- Take the cookies out of the syrup, arrange them on a platter and top with crushed walnuts.
Video
Notes
- Store the leftovers in an airtight container and keep at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Since these cookies don't contain eggs or dairy, there's no need to refrigerate them.
- It's very important that the cookies are hot and the syrup is cool when you soak them. If the syrup is hot, the cookies will fall apart.
Nutrition
Calories: 147kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 36mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 11IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 1mg