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Melomakarona are Greek honey spiced cookies usually baked for Christmas. They're made with oil and have no eggs, no milk, and no butter. They're covered in walnuts or chocolate!

Melomakarona are the traditional Greek honey spiced cookies usually baked during Christmas.

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Ingredients
Instructions:
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“Melomakarona” is a Greek word which in a free translation you could say it means "honey macaroons".

However, according to some sources the name comes from the ancient Greek work "makaria" which was a piece of bread offered in certain ceremonies. When you add "meli" (the Greek word for honey) over "makaria", then you get a melomakarono!

These Greek Christmas cookies are spiced with orange zest, cinnamon and ground cloves and once they're baked, they get soaked in a honey-based syrup.

Traditionally, they're covered in crashed walnuts but today you can also find them covered in chocolate, so I decided to make them both ways to keep everyone happy.

Though there are several variations, the basic recipe is very old and it doesn’t require a mixer since at the time it was developed there weren’t any! Another reason it doesn’t require a mixer is because it has no butter.

Olive oil gets mixed with sugar and some orange juice and then the mixture is beaten with a whisk until the sugar is almost dissolved. If you don't want to use olive oil, a neutral flavored vegetable oil like corn oil or sunflower oil will also work.

I have seen my grandmother do this using not a whisk, but her hand! Yes, she actually poured the wet ingredients into a large bowl along with the sugar and mixed them together with her bare hand.

If thinking of trying this for yourself, you’ll want to use only one hand and keep the other clean, unless you want to make a mess in your kitchen! Oh, and be sure to wash your hands thoroughly first 🙂

This is the time to mention that during the holidays the whole country is divided in two opposite sides.

There are the ones in favor of these Melomakarona and the other side which prefer kourabiedes (kourabiedes is a type of Greek butter cookies with almonds, also baked during Christmas).

It’s hard to say which side is the most hardcore because both have very high standards and are not willing to make any sacrifices! Luckily, most households are filled with both kinds of cookies, so no one feels left out 🙂

Ingredients

All-purpose flour
baking soda and baking powder
olive oil
sugar
orange juice and orange zest
brandy or cognac
cinnamon and ground cloves
honey (thyme honey woks best)
walnuts or chocolate (or both)

Melomakarona Christmas cookies served on a plate.

What to add instead of brandy/cognac:

The alcohol will evaporate completely during baking so you really don't have to worry if it's suitable for kids. But if you prefer not to add it anyway, then you can just replace it with an equal amount of orange juice.

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the cookies until you have a soft dough. If you want your cookies to absorb a lot of syrup but also not to become mushy, then you should not over-work the dough.

2. Form and bake the cookies. Melomakarona are typically elongated, oval-shaped cookies but I find that it is much quicker to just shape them into discs.

3. Soak the cookies in the honey syrup. Traditionally, you make the syrup in a pot and soak the cookies for a few seconds while the syrup is hot.

I like to use a different method since it seems that the cookies absorb more syrup but without becoming mushy. This method requires having all the cookies in a baking pan and pouring the syrup over them, then leaving them there until all the syrup is absorbed.

4. Once the syrup is absorb you can coat the melomakarona with crashed walnuts or cover them with melted chocolate.

My mom mixes some toasted sesame seeds with the walnuts something I strongly advise you to do, because it makes them so much better!

If you choose to cover them with chocolate use a dark chocolate because the cookies are already sweet enough.

Making Melomakarona cookies for Christmas.

Optionally (but as far as I’m concerned this is obligatory) you can first cover them with chocolate and then top them with some crashed nuts. I believe they are a lot more Christmas-y this way! And there you have it, the best cookie of your life!

Some more notes:

Use a mild olive oil or a 50-50 mix of olive oil and another vegetable oil. You don’t want a strong olive oil flavor since it can be overpowering.
After you add the flour, mix very gently until just combined and let the dough rest for 15-30 minutes. Don’t over mix and don't add too much flour because the cookies will come out tough.
It's OK if some oil comes out of the dough during the resting time.
For the cookies to get extra crunchy and also well-soaked in the honey-syrup, they need to be kept small in size.
This recipe makes a lot of melomakarona, but since they have no eggs nor dairy, they keep really well when stored in an airtight container, up to 12 days or even more!

Melomakarona Greek cookies covered in chocolate.

Don't forget to make these white chocolate truffle snowmen just to have some extra fun in the kitchen and this Greek New Year's Eve cake (Vasilopita) to celebrate the New Year!

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