Melomakarona

Baking Sweet Greek Cookies

Pinelopi shares another Greek delight with us, melomakarona, a honey dipped, walnut covered oval shaped cookie. They are made year round, but especially as part of an assortment of treats which Greeks the world over make for the Christmas holiday. The cookie also offers Christians now fasting for Easter a treat that is okay to eat.

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Melomakarona

Melomakarona are a part of the Greek Christmas tradition. Although they are one of several great treats for Christmas, we enjoy them throughout the year. They are great also for lent, since they contain no dairy or eggs. Try making this recipe and enjoy.

Kali Orexi!

Ingredients:

• 1 glass (8 ounces) of virgin olive oil
• 1 half glass of sugar
• 1 half glass of lemon and orange juice combined
• 1 glass of roughly chopped walnuts
• 3 glasses of soft flour or a little more if needed
• 1 demitasse cup of cognac
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• Cinnamon for sprinkling


• Syrup:
1 glass sugar
1/2 glass of water
1 glass of honey

Baking the Cookies:

• In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder.
• In an electric mixer, at medium speed, mix sugar and oil for half an hour.
• Add the cognac and the juice.
• Next add the flour slowly until it comes together as a soft dough.
• Take a piece of dough about the size of a full tablespoon. Then make it into a cylinder shape and flatten the cylinder cookie with the back of a fork. Besides a fork we like to roll the unbaked cookie over a cheese grater to form a design.
• Place on cookie sheet about a half inch apart.
• Bake in a preheated oven for twenty to thirty minutes at 350 degrees.
• Syrup: Pour the sugar, water and honey into a pot to come to a boil several times.
• Skim off the impurities as they surface.
• Lower the heat.
• Place three to four cooled cookies into the syrup.
• Remove them with a slotted spoon.
• Place onto a serving platter.
• While still hot sprinkle cookies with walnuts and ground cinnamon.
• Present them in paper and foil cupcake holders.

The amount of cookies is determined by their size. My husband appreciates a larger cookie, whereas I like a smaller one. It is only a matter of preference, after all the taste is one and the same. This will make a nice sized batch for you.

My mother would use the ash from burnt clean pine or olive tree branches, boiled in water and strained into one demitasse cup, to give the cookie a grittier texture besides affecting the flavor. This is dying wisdom now, as we live in a world where we cannot do this simply. We also do not do it since we cannot know if the wood is free of toxins either.

These cookies are always a well received treat. Enjoy. They happen to be our first grandchild's favorite Greek cookie. When we give little Georgie one he will inevitably ask for three more.



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