Greek Honey Orange Cookies | Melomakarona
A Greek Christmas cookie flavored with orange and cinnamon that is dipped in a honey orange cinnamon syrup and then drizzled with honey and topped with ground walnuts.
Ingredients
Soaking Syrup
- 625 ml water 2½ cups
- 550 g sugar 2½ cups
- juice of ½ an orange
- the peel from a whole orange (white pith removed)
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 whole cloves
- 150 g honey ½ cup
Cookie Dough
- 1 kg all-purpose flour 8 cups
- 100 g semolina ½ cup
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 250 ml orange juice 1 cup
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 100 g sugar ½ cup
- zest of one orange
- 250 ml extra light olive oil (don't use extra virgin!) 1 cup
Topping
- 150 g honey ½ cup
- 60 g ground walnuts ½ cup
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Instructions
Soaking Syrup
- Put all of the ingredients for the soaking syrup (except the honey) into a medium-sized saucepan. Bring it to a boil and then turn off the heat.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl to cool. Whisk in the honey while it is still warm. Let the syrup cool to at least room temperature. This may take a couple of hours. It should not be hot when dipping the cookies in it. You can place it in the refrigerator. It's okay if is cold when dipping the cookies.
- Before using the syrup, strain out the peel and spices.
Making the Cookies
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, semolina, and cinnamon, and then set aside.
- In another large bowl, whisk together the orange juice and baking soda. Then whisk in the sugar and orange zest. Continue whisking and add the olive oil in a steady stream until it is emulsified with the rest of the liquid.
- Then stir in the flour mixture a little bit at a time until is fully combined and there are no streaks of flour left. Don't overmix, though. Stop mixing as soon at the flour is incorporated.
- Now, take a small scoop of dough using a large dinner spoon. Roll the mixture between your hands to form an elliptical shape. Place this on a parchment-lined baking sheet. You can place the cookies somewhat close together because they do not spread during baking. Using a fork, poke three sets of holes in the tops of each cookie. This will help them to absorb the liquid from the soaking syrup after they are baked.
- Bake them in a 400℉ / 200℃ preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Keep an eye on them towards the end to make sure the bottoms of the cookies don't get too dark.
- As soon as you remove them from the oven, dip them in the honey syrup for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then, strain them out and place them on a rack to drain.
- After they've fully cooled, dip the top of each cookie in honey and sprinkle with the walnut cinnamon mixture.