Melomakarona
Greek Christmas cookies made with olive oil and orange juice, without a gram of butter and without eggs. The whole technique comes down to a rule of contrasting temperatures: hot cookies go into cold syrup (or cooled cookies into hot syrup — then they soak a little longer). With that contrast the syrup soaks in within seconds and the cookie keeps its shape. Never both hot — the cookies then fall apart in the syrup.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Syrup 15 min
- Dough 25 min
- Baking 60 min
- Soaking 45 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneMake the syrup and cool it completely
Boil the water with the sugar, spices and peel for 5 minutes, take off the heat and only then stir in the honey. Honey added at the end keeps the aroma that long boiling would dull. Leave the syrup to cool completely — it must be cold when the cookies come out of the oven.
Ingredients: 250 g honey · 200 g sugar · 300 ml water · 1 pcs cinnamon · 4 pcs cloves · 1 pcs orange
Emulsify the oil with juice and sugar
Beat the olive oil with the orange juice, sugar, zest and brandy for 3 minutes, until pale and thickened. Oil and juice must form an emulsion — otherwise the fat separates in the dough and the cookies come out greasy underneath.
Ingredients: 250 ml olive oil · 2 pcs oranges · 100 g sugar · 550 g plain flour · 100 g semolina · 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda · 1 tsp baking powder · 1 tsp cinnamon · ½ tsp cloves · 3 tbsp brandy
Fold in the flour as briefly as possible
Add the flour with the semolina, soda, baking powder and spices and fold with a spatula only until combined. The dough should stay short and slightly crumbly. Overmixing develops gluten and the cookies bake hard.
Ingredients: 250 ml olive oil · 2 pcs oranges · 100 g sugar · 550 g plain flour · 100 g semolina · 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda · 1 tsp baking powder · 1 tsp cinnamon · ½ tsp cloves · 3 tbsp brandy
Mix only until combined — the dough must stay short.Shape ovals and press with a fork
Shape the dough into ovals of about 30 g, roughly 5 cm long and press a pattern into the tops with a fork. The grooves are not just decoration — they increase the surface through which the syrup enters.
Ingredients: 250 ml olive oil · 2 pcs oranges · 100 g sugar · 550 g plain flour · 100 g semolina · 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda · 1 tsp baking powder · 1 tsp cinnamon · ½ tsp cloves · 3 tbsp brandy
The fork pattern increases the surface that drinks syrup.Bake until completely dry
Bake one tray at a time, 28–30 minutes at 180°C, until dark and completely dry inside. Underbaked they fall apart in the syrup — they must be hard, because the syrup is what softens them.
Ingredients: 250 ml olive oil · 2 pcs oranges · 100 g sugar · 550 g plain flour · 100 g semolina · 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda · 1 tsp baking powder · 1 tsp cinnamon · ½ tsp cloves · 3 tbsp brandy
Drop hot cookies into cold syrup
Straight from the oven, drop the cookies in batches into the cold syrup for 20 seconds, turning once. You will see bubbles — air leaving the cookie, its place taken by syrup.
Ingredients: 250 g honey · 200 g sugar · 300 ml water · 1 pcs cinnamon · 4 pcs cloves · 1 pcs orange
Hot into cold — the bubbles mean the syrup is going in.Never longer than half a minute
Lift them out with a slotted spoon after 30 seconds at most. Longer and the cookie soaks right through, breaks as you move it and, once cool, has the texture of wet sponge rather than moist cake.
Ingredients: 250 g honey · 200 g sugar · 300 ml water · 1 pcs cinnamon · 4 pcs cloves · 1 pcs orange
Scatter with nuts and rest 45 minutes
Set them on a rack, scatter with the walnuts and cinnamon immediately — they stick only to wet syrup — and leave for at least 45 minutes. In that time the syrup distributes itself evenly through the cookie.
Ingredients: 150 g walnuts · ½ tsp cinnamon
Before you start
Semolina gives the structure
Semolina in the dough is not a filler — it gives a slightly grainy, short texture that takes up syrup well. Without it the cookies are smoother and denser.
The oil must be mild
Greeks use olive oil, but not the peppery kind. A sharp extra virgin overpowers the honey and orange. Choose a mild, mellow one — or cut it half and half with a neutral oil if intense is all you have.
Two weeks in a tin
Melomakarona keep two weeks in an airtight container and improve over the first few days as the syrup spreads through them. Do not refrigerate — honey crystallises when cold and the cookies harden. Layer them with paper.
