Christmas wouldn’t be well, Christmas, without the ubiquitous mince pie – in the UK at least. You’d probably be very hard pressed to find a single solitary mince pie in Greece where I grew up. Instead of mince pies we have kourabiethes and melomakarona – two traditional Greek recipes that are completely inescapable during the festive season. Most households have a recipe passed down the generations and every year large batches of these cookies get baked, exchanged, gifted and nibbled round the clock for a few weeks come December.
Melomakarona – my favourite – translates as ‘honey macaroons’ but in reality they are little cookies made with olive oil and lots of Christmas spices which are then soaked in honey syrup and topped with chopped walnuts. They keep very well for a couple of weeks, their taste actually improving over time. I think they must be one of the very first recipes I helped my mother and yiayia make – I have distinct memories of rolling the dough in my hands and pressing it against a box grater to create a little pattern on the top. I hadn’t made any in a very long time so I asked my mum to email her recipe – which arrived complete with little drawings of what shape you should roll the cookies (I didn’t follow your instructions – sorry mum).
Melomakarona – Greek honey spice cookies
Ingredients
- For the syrup
- 250 ml | 1 cup water
- 225 g | 1 cup sugar
- 300 g | 1 cup runny honey
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- piece of orange peel
- Melomakarona
- 125 ml | 1/2 cup light olive oil
- 115 g | 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
- 115 g | 1/2 cup caster sugar or light brown sugar
- 60 ml | 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 60 ml | 1/4 cup cognac rum or brandy
- zest of 1 orange
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- pinch nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 500 g | 4 cups plain flour you may need to use a little more or a little less
- Topping
- 150 g | 5.3oz walnuts finely chopped
- 100 g | 3.5oz pistachios finely chopped
- 1 tbsp cinnamon optional
- rose petals completely optional - they just look pretty
Instructions
- Make the syrup. This needs to be made while the cookies are baking as it must be ready when they come out of the oven. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan, stir together then bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring, for 5-10 minutes until slightly thickened. Discard any foam that forms on top of the syrup.
- Remove the cinnamon stick and orange peel. Lower the heat to lowest setting and keep the syrup warm until cookies are ready.
- Preheat the oven to 170C (340F). Line two large baking trays with paper.
- Put the oil, butter, sugar and all the spices in the bowl of your stand mixer and beat together with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes.
- Mix the orange juice, alcohol, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda – the mixture will fizz and froth. Add it to the mixing bowl together with the salt and orange zest and beat together on medium Gradually add the flour until the dough forms a ball – you can also fold it in by hand. Once the cookies hold their shape you can stop adding flour. Only use as much as you need.
- Roll the cookies into small balls (size of a walnut) and place on the trays, slightly spaced apart.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until evenly coloured and firm. Remove from the oven and drop them, a few at a time, into the simmering syrup for 1-2 minutes, flipping them over to soak evenly. Continue until all the cookies are used up.
- Layer the cookies on a platter, spoon any remaining syrup over them and sprinkle with the chopped nuts and cinnamon (if using). Keep at room temperature, loosely covered with foil.
kirsty says
I just finished making these for a Christmas party – my goodness they are so divine! Now I have to keep myself from eating the plateful before the party!!
Katharina says
I made my first batch of the Melomakarona just yesterday, and they turned out beautifully. I had lots and lots of chopped walnuts left, in fact I only needed half the amount, but what with all the Christmas baking still to do I was pretty sure I could use them for some other recipe. Well. Looks like they'll be used for a second batch of Melomakarona – they are OH. SO. GOOD. And almost gone. I swear there were nearly 50 golden syrupy little cookies sitting on the cooling rack, and now there's barely a dozen left. The husband (who's the Greek between the two of us) couldn't stop eating and said they were even better than he remembered. He took a container full of cookies to work this morning and reported back they were gone a mere 30 minutes after arriving.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful family recipe!
Have a lovely Christmas time!
Lucy Parissi says
I am SO HAPPY you made them and even happier you stopped by to comment : ) I can't fathom Christmas without melomakarona even though I have lived in the UK longer than I have in Greece. Have a lovely Christmas xxx
Steph @MisplacedBritp says
I can't believe how GORGEOUS these cookies are! Wow! …I'm writing that on everyone of your posts right now!! 😉 These look FANTASTIC!
Gemma says
I love discovering typical Christmas recipes from other countries, they all have nice stories behind them…specially like these Melamakarona.
Now I know where your exotic beauty comes from! 😉
xoxo