Dessert
Melomakarona with Beer (Greek Honey Cookies)
- Total timeTotal
- 1 hr 30′
- MakesMakes
- 120–140 cookies
Melomakarona are the Greek Christmas cookie: soft, spiced with cinnamon, clove and orange, soaked in honey syrup and finished with crushed walnuts. This version, made with beer and olive oil, has its roots in the Cyclades.
Melomakarona are the Greek Christmas cookie: soft, spiced with cinnamon, clove and orange, soaked in honey syrup and finished with crushed walnuts. This version, made with beer and olive oil, has its roots in the Cyclades. My grandmother baked it every Christmas, and it is full of aroma, with the strong taste of thyme honey.
Step by step
3 photos
The recipe
Melomakarona with Beer Recipe
Total time 1 hr 30′ · 120–140 cookies
Ingredients
For the melomakarona
For the syrup
Method
Melomakarona: the dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the olive oil, the butter and the sugar, and beat for 5 minutes on high speed.
- Add the beer, ground cloves, cinnamon, orange juice, salt, baking soda and orange zest, and keep beating for a few minutes.
- Sift the flour and add it to the mixer gradually, in batches, with the speed on the lowest setting. Work quickly and don’t overmix, or the dough will release its oil.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer and knead the dough very lightly by hand, just until all the flour is absorbed.
- Shape the dough into small balls and press each one with your index finger against a box grater, so it gets a hollow on one side and a pattern on the other. The hollow helps the cookie soak up and hold more syrup.
- Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, hollow side down.
Melomakarona: baking
- Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C for about 20 minutes, until they turn a nice golden color.
- Repeat with the rest of the dough. If you shape them small, you’ll get about 140 bite-size melomakarona.
- Let the melomakarona cool completely before you move on to the syrup.
- Pulse the walnuts briefly in a food processor into small pieces. You can also crush them in a mortar.
Melomakarona: soaking in syrup
- In a small pot, add the water, sugar, honey, cinnamon stick and orange peel.
- Bring the syrup to a boil and skim off the foam that forms on the surface.
- Keep the syrup hot but not boiling, and soak the melomakarona a few at a time: dip them in the syrup, stir for 40 seconds, then lift them out with a slotted spoon onto a tray.
- Once all the melomakarona have had their first soak, take the syrup off the heat for 10 minutes to cool a little, then give them a second soak, in batches, for another 30 seconds. The slightly cooler syrup is thicker, so the cookies hold more of it on the outside.
- For syrup all the way to the center, spread the melomakarona on a tray, pour the hot syrup over them and leave them for a few minutes.
- For softer, juicier melomakarona, do the above with warm cookies and warm syrup.
Melomakarona: serving
- Arrange them on a platter and sprinkle crushed walnuts over each layer. You can add half a teaspoon of cinnamon to the walnuts for extra aroma.
- Once the syrup has cooled completely, drizzle a little over the melomakarona.
- Keep the melomakarona covered with plastic wrap through the holidays.
