Recipe of Traditional Christmas Honey Cookies

1. Melomakarona, Greek Christmas honey cookies
The traditional Greek Christmas cookies with honey, melomakarona, are together with kourampiedes the
most popular delicacy during Christmas holidays in Greece. They are sweet, soft, moist and flavoursome,
and they taste like Christmas. If you want to realise that the best time of the year has come, this recipe is
the simplest way. Just follow the steps, and you will prepare the most delicious honey cookies that
everyone will adore.
Ingredients for the melomakarona
150g. semolina
500g. flour
1/2 tbsp. baking powder
100g. orange juice
3 tbsps. cognac
100g. sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/3 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 tsp. clove

2. 1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tbsp. soda
90g. water
125g. olive oil
125g. vegetable oil
50g. honey
zest of 2 oranges
Ingredients for the syrup
400g. water
800g. sugar
120g. glucose
2 cinnamon sticks
3 whole cloves
1 orange
250g. honey
Ingredients to garnish
200g. walnuts
cinnamon
clove
Preparation
1. Make the syrup first. In a pot, add all its ingredients, except the honey, and boil them for 3-4
minutes until the sugar is dissolved. Then, add the honey and let the syrup to cool completely.
2. For the dough, put in a bowl the semolina, the flour and the baking powder, and blend them with
a whisk.
3. In another bowl, add the orange juice, the spices (nutmeg, clove, vanilla and cinnamon), the
cognac and the sugar. At the end, add the baking soda and blend for 10 seconds until the soda
starts to foam. Pour then the orange zest, the water, the oil and the honey.
4. Combine the two mixtures (step 2 and 3). Knead the dough with your hands until it is smooth
and soft. Do not overwork the dough or add more flour than is needed because that will make the
melomakarona tough.
5. Preheat the oven at 180 C. and shape the cookies on a parchment paper. Make a smooth,
oblong shape like an egg, and place them on the baking tray.
6. Bake for 20 minutes until the melomakarona are lightly browned.

3. 7. When the cookies are ready, place them in the bowl with the syrup and leave them there for 20
seconds.
8. Garnish the melomakarona and then, store them at room temperature. They will last until
January when the Christmas holidays are over.