Melomakarona
05
Melomakarona are one of my favorite cookies on the planet. Like most Greek desserts, they have honey, cinnamon, and walnuts. What can I say? We don’t like to mess with a good thing. But, it’s this mixture that makes them perfect for the holidays (or really, year round, if you’re me!).
The dough for this cookie is pretty basic, but what makes them unique is the honey/simple syrup mixture the cookies are dunked into and the texture that arises from that process. The dipped cookies are pretty soft, due to the syrup, but are not chewy. The finished cookie has sweetness from the honey and sugar, a little spice from the cinnamon and cloves, and a nice crunch from the walnuts. That’s why they’re pretty much my perfect cookie.
Melomakarona
makes 6 dozen cookies
Cookie Dough
6.5-7 cups flour
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1.5 cups vegetable/canola oil
Syrup/topping
1.5 cups sugar
1.5 cups water
1.5 cups honey
1/2 lb. toasted walnuts, crushed
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves
To make the cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350.
In a large bowl, whisk together 6.5 cups of the flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until creamed together. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until just incorporated. Add the oil and orange juice, mixing just until smooth and combined.
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in 3 additions on low speed (so the flour doesn’t fly everywhere). Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly for just a few minutes. The dough will be a little greasy on your hands, but it shouldn’t be exceptionally greasy. If it is, or the dough doesn’t seem firm enough to roll, add some additional flour.
Roll cookies into oval shapes with the palm of your hand and place on several baking sheets. Prick the tops of each cookie lightly with a fork a few times (just to make the holes from the tines visible). Bake the cookies for about 20-22 minutes or until golden. Set aside to cool completely. These are best dunked in the syrup after sitting out overnight, or for several hours.
To dip the cookies:
Mix the walnuts, cinnamon and cloves together in a bowl and set aside.
Once the cookies have cooled completely (preferably overnight), start making your syrup. Bring the water, honey and sugar to a boil in a large sauce or saute pan (I like using a high saute pan, the bigger surface area across will let you dip more cookies at once). After it has boiled for a minute or two and thickened slightly, skim the foam off the top. Turn burner to the lowest setting, just to keep the syrup warm.
In batches, dunk the cookies in the honey syrup. Leave them in there for about a minute, flipping once if they are not completely submerged, before removing them with a slotted spatula and placing them on a baking sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. Sprinkle the dipped cookies with the walnut mixture (you’ll want to do this as you go, so the tops remain sticky enough from the honey to make the walnuts adhere).
Store these in an airtight container and they should keep for quite a while (if they last that long 🙂
Loved your recipe. My mom’s calls for only oil and found the butter to be a great addition. Thanks for sharing!
Hi there! I want to try your recipe, but I’ve seen in the past that some recipes say to soak the cookies for 5 or so minutes. Have you tried it? If so, is it a good idea? I really want them to soak all the way through but am worried that one minute might not be enough.
Hi Ellen. I usually just do it for 1-2 minutes and it’s fine to me. Toward the end when the syrup gets low I might leave them a little longer, but I’ve never done 5. Some people just pour the syrup completely over the cookies, though I’ve never tried it. You could also pour a little syrup into your pan/container that you plan to place the cookies in, so they are sort of continuously soaking even after dipping, if that makes sense (I will occasionally spoon extra syrup over the top).