μελομακάρονα (Melomakarona)

I once had a friend whose family was very Greek, and whose mother was always sending over the most amazing food. She made the best baklava, homemade tzatziki, and pasticcio—we were very spoiled. But the one food she introduced me to that I hold especially dear is melomakarona—the sticky little honey cookies I am sharing here. Melomakarona are addictive little cookies flavoured with orange and brandy, dosed in honey, and sprinkled with cinnamon and walnuts. They are usually enjoyed at Christmas, although I love them anytime, and don't feel guilty at all having just made them in the middle of the summer!

I'd never made melomakarona before today, and I was interested to see that they are actually made quite differently from most of the cookies I am used to making. Most of the cookies I usually make are either creamed together, or (occasionally) I will make a recipe where you cut in the butter, cold, as you do with flaky pastry or scones. Melomakarona require a completely different process. First of all, they call for olive oil instead of butter, which I never use in cookies normally. You also are asked to knead the dough once everything is added, and you bake them for 25 minutes - over twice as long as the bake time of any of the other cookies I make. And the cookies, themselves, only have 6 tbsp of sugar, because all the sweetness comes from the syrup you simmer them in afterward.

Melomakarona are also far crispier than many other cookies—they are quite dry in the inside with a sticky outside. This is not uncommon, though, and I imagine they might get softer as they soak up more syrup throughout the day, although it's been a very long while since I last had them, so I really can't say. While you are baking the cookies, you make a syrup of honey, sugar and water, and simmer each of the cookies in it for 1-2 minutes to let the honey soak into the edges of the cookies a little.

It has been years since I've had these cookies, but I can tell you, they were every bit as good as I remembered. I am, I admit, a bit of a sugar addict who regularly eats creamed honey by the spoon and has a terrible weakness for jalebi (जलेबी)—those sticky, crispy spirals of fried dough you get at the Indian restaurants, and which I have purchased far too many times to admit from the halal grocer back home. So I guess I should say, these cookies are likely not for everyone; if you are not crazy about sweets, or watching your sugar intake, you might not like these cookies as much as I do. But for us who enjoy a little sweetness every once in a while, these cookies are a must-try. They are baklava's cookie cousin, so if you love baklava, you'll love them, too.

- Melomakarona -

μελομακάρονα

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

• Finely grated rind and juice of 1 large orange
• 150ml or 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (make sure your olive oil is fresh, as if it has gone rancid, it could give an undesirable note to your cookies!)
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp brandy
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tsp bkp
• 1/2 tsp bks
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped

For the Syrup:

• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 150ml or 2/3 cup water

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Finely grate the rind of a large orange and reserve 1 tbsp (you can freeze the rest for future use!). Juice the orange into a small bowl and set aside for later.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, bkp, bks and salt, and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil and sugar until incorporated. Add orange juice, brandy, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Gradually add in the flour, and knead on a clean surface until it begins to come together. Add the grated orange rind and knead for 10 minutes until it comes together and feels a little elastic.
5. Form the dough into little walnut-sized ovals and arrange them on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten the dough a little with a fork and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until golden.
6. Meanwhile, make the syrup. In a saucepan, gently bring the honey, sugar and water to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Once the cookies are baked, add 6 of them at a time to the simmering syrup and cook for 1-2 minutes to let them absorb some of the syrup. Remove from pan onto platter and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon and the chopped walnuts (I mixed the cinnamon and walnuts together for easy sprinkling).

The tasty work station:

Look at those walnuts...

Sweet summer kitchen helper: