This recipe for melomakarona, the Greek honey cookies, Crunchy on the outside and soft and syrupy in the middle, those cookies melt in your mouth. They are full of aromas from cinnamon and clove, sweet from the honey, and nutty from the chopped walnuts on top.

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Greek Honey Cookies - Melomakarona

• Servings: 35

• Prep Time: 30 minutes

• Cook Time: 25 minutes

Dough Ingredients

• 4 cups plain flour

• 1/2 cup semolina flour

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 1/2 cups olive oil

• 1/2 cup orange juice

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

• 1 tablespoon cognac or brandy

• 1 teaspoon of baking powder

• 1 teaspoon of baking soda

• 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Syrup Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar

• 2 cups water

• 1 cup honey

• half an orange

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 2-3 whole cloves

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Instructions

Ingredients & How to

To make the syrup for the Greek honey cookies or melomakarona, you will need water, sugar, honey, a cinnamon stick, whole cloves (optional), and an orange.

1. Preparing the syrup

1. You could make the syrup the day before or a few hours ahead. We basically want the syrup to be at room temperature when the biscuits are ready and hot out of the oven. For the syrup, I add all the ingredients to a pot, the water, sugar, honey, cinnamon stick, whole cloves and finally half an orange after I squeeze out some of its juice in the pot. If you don’t have a cinnamon stick or whole cloves, then you could replace them with powdered ones.
2. I gently give it a stir to combine everything and dissolve the sugar and then I leave it to boil on medium heat. It will take around 5 minutes to start boiling. When I start seeing a lot of bubbles, I give it a minute to boil and come together and then I turn off the heat and leave it at the side to cool down. Now that the syrup is ready and cooling down, we can start preparing the melomakarona biscuits.

2. Preparing the melomakarona dough

To make the melomakarona dough, you will need plain flour, semolina flour, sugar, orange juice, olive oil, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract, cognac or brandy, cinnamon and ground cloves.

1. To make the dough for the biscuits, I mix the olive oil and sugar in a big bowl until the sugar has dissolved. As the biscuits are dipped in syrup later on, we don’t need a lot of sugar in it.
2. Now let’s add the rest of the ingredients. In the orange juice, I add the baking soda and stir it until it starts foaming. Then I add it to the bowl with the oil and sugar.
3. Next, I’m adding the spices, powdered cinnamon, and clove. Cinnamon and clove are two of my favorite spices and it wouldn’t feel like Christmas without them. Finally, I add the cognac and vanilla extract and I mix everything really well.
4. To bring everything together, I need to add the flour to the mixture. I’m adding a combination of plain flour and semolina flour, and some baking powder as a raising agent. The semolina flour is what makes these Greek honey cookies have a crumbly texture and absorb more syrup. If you add too much semolina flour, the melomakarona cookies will have a weird taste and will break easily when you bite them. If you add too little, then they will be hard and dry, as they won’t absorb as much syrup later on. So stick to the recipe for the best results.
5. Finally, it’s time for the flour. I’m using plain flour that is used for baking. Then I start mixing the flour using my hands. I like to use a pair of gloves as the mixture is quite oily. The melomakarona dough is one of those cases in that you shouldn’t overwork the dough with kneading, as the oil can easily separate. I gently mix everything with my hands until the flour is well combined.

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3. Shaping the Greek honey cookies

1. Now it’s time to shape the Greek honey cookies. I take a small piece of dough in my hand, around 30 grams, and shape it into an oval. Again, don’t overwork the cookie. **Shape it into a ball and then press it gently to shape it. **
2. I place the cookies on a lined baking tray, leaving a finger space between them, as they will grow a little bit. Before putting them in the oven, I lightly prick each of the cookies 3-4 times using a fork for absorbing more syrup when we dip them later on.
3. Now it’s time for the oven! Make sure your oven is preheated to 180°C/350°F and place the tray in the middle oven. The melomakarona cookies will need to be baked enough to get a nice brown color for about 20-25 minutes. If you take them out while they are still light brown, then they will likely fall apart when you dip them in the syrup. So be patient and let the oven do its work.

4. Dipping in syrup

1. Now that the cookies are baked, it’s time to dip them in the syrup. The honey cookies need to be hot, as they come out of the oven, in order to absorb the syrup, and the syrup needs to be cold, at room temperature. For best results, I like to make the syrup early in the day or the day before to give it enough time to cool down. Immediately, when I take out of the oven the tray with the cookies, I start adding them to the syrup in batches, 4-5 at a time depending on how big the pot is. Using a couple of forks or a slotted spoon, I turn them around to absorb syrup on both sides. After 10-20 seconds, I take them out and put them on another tray or plate to cool down and give them enough time to soak in all the syrup.
2. I leave the melomakarona cookies for an hour after dipping them in syrup to rest and then I place them in my display tray in rows. After I place each row, I drizzle with a bit of honey and a mixture of chopped walnuts and cinnamon. Some people like to use a mixture of nuts for the top, like walnuts and almonds. I just like to use walnuts, but I will leave it to you and your preferences.

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Tips & Secrets for Melomakarona

• Use a combination of plain flour and semolina flour to get that perfectly crumbly and not hard cookies.

• Use honey in the syrup on top of sugar for a nice thick syrup and more aromas.

• Don’t overknead the melomakarona dough as the oil will separate resulting in hard cookies.

• Add a bit of cinnamon and ground cloves to the chopped walnuts for a more aromatic cookie.

• Don’t make the cookies too big as they will need more time to bake and more time to soak in syrup.

• Add a little bit of alcohol in the dough, cognac, or brandy to help with the cookie texture.

• Bake the melomakarona until they have a brown color. If underbaked, they will break easily when dipped in the syrup.

Serving suggestions

We usually make these Greek honey cookies in December in preparation for the festive season. We have them as a dessert after food, with our morning coffee, afternoon tea, you name it. You simply can’t resist them any time of the day.

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Storage

You can store the melomakarona cookies at room temperature for up to 2 weeks without going bad. If you make a big batch you could store them in an airtight container, although you might find that they get a bit soft this way. If you want to make a big batch in advance, you could also bake the cookies and don’t dip them in syrup immediately. In this case, you make the syrup and dip the cold cookies in the boiling syrup for 20-30 seconds.

Notes

• This recipe yields around 35 honey cookies, depending on the size. Try to shape them the same size to cook uniformly.

• Leave some space between them on the baking tray as they will get slightly bigger and don't forget to prick them 3-4 on the surface to allow them to absorb more syrup when you dip them.

• You could use a mix of almonds and walnuts on top.