Melomakarona
Description
A really unusual (unless you're Greek!) cookie. Spicy and moist, crumbly but juicy, flavourful and delicate. These are usually Christmas cookies but we made them for Hanukkah.
You can make the syrup days to hours in advance if that’s easier for you (the majority of time for this recipe - 1 1/2 hours - is chilling time for the syrup) but it must be cold and the cookies must be hot for these to work properly.
The recipe makes about 20 cookies but doubles easily if you want more. Store the cookies in a closed container at room temperature, not in the fridge.
Ingredients
The Syrup
The Dough
To Finish
Instructions
Preheat oven 180C/350F, line a baking sheet with parchment
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The Syrup
Put the water, sugar, cinnamon stick, clove and orange half into a small pot on the stove. Heat it over fairly high heat to bring it to a boil. Once it boils, reduce the heat so that the syrup simmers and let it cook for 5 minutes. You can stir it to make sure the sugar is dissolved and you can kind of prod the orange to extract some of the juice/oils from it into the syrup. Take the pot off the heat and add the honey, stir to make sure it melts and is incorporated. Let the syrup cool down on the counter for a bit, then pop it in the fridge to chill.
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The Dough
Put both of the oils in a medium sized bowl and beat the sugar into them with a whisk until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Add the fresh orange juice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and baking soda. Whisk again fully incorporate the ingredients.
Add the flour and the baking powder and switch to a rubber/silicone spatula to mix the dry into the wet. Mix just enough so that you don't see any clumps of dry ingredients.
Scoop out approximately 30g/1oz potions of the dough and roll them into a ball and shape them into an oblong or oval shape. Place them on the parchment-lined baking sheet about 2cm apart. Using the tines of a fork, gently press the fork into the top of each cookie to make grooves. You may need to use 2 baking sheets (and bake them separately) but you can probably fit them all on one (we have Euro ovens that are much smaller than standard NA ones so our baking sheets are smaller too).
Bake for 20-25 minutes until they are lightly browned and set.
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The Finish
When the cookies are almost ready, take the syrup out of the fridge and strain it, removing the orange and the spices.
Prep a cooling rack by placing a tray or parchment underneath it to catch drips.
Using a fork place a couple of the hot cookies into the chilled syrup for about 5-10 seconds, flip them over to soak for another 5-10 seconds and them lift each one out and put it on the prepared rack to drain.
When you've soaked all the cookies, drizzle a little honey over the top and sprinkle toasted and finely chopped walnuts over them.
