Honey Drenched Orange And Spice Cookies Melomakarona Recipes

HONEY-DRENCHED ORANGE AND SPICE COOKIES (MELOMAKARONA)

Steps:

• In a stand mixer, beat the first 5 ingredients on high, for 4 minutes.
• In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda. With the motor running, slowly add the flour mixture to the liquid ingredients. The dough should feel soft and oily and will hold its shape. Do not over mix. Cover and set aside.
• Make the the syrup: mix together all four ingredients is a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature and simmer for five minutes, occasionally skimming the foam as it forms. Remove from the heat and let it cool.
• Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Form the dough into oblong shapes about 2" long and ½" high and arrange on the cookie sheet. (Alternatively, form little balls, about 1").
• Bake at 350° F for about 25 minutes, or until lightly brown.
• While the cookies bake, prepare the topping, place in a small bowl and set aside.
• Remove the cookies from the oven. One by one, drop the hot cookies in the saucepan with the cooled syrup. Gently move them around the saucepan for about 20 seconds, in order to absorb some of the syrup. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and place them on a platter..
• Sprinkle with the mixture of walnuts, cinnamon, and cloves. You can pile them into a pyramid shape on the platter if you like, sprinkling every layer with the walnuts. Any leftover syrup may be drizzled over the cookies.

MELOMAKARONA

Steps:

• For the syrup: Stir to combine the sugar, honey, whole cloves, cinnamon stick and orange zest with 1 1/3 cup water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has completely dissolved, about 5 minutes. Set aside at room temperature until cooled completely, about 1 hour. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl; set aside.
• For the dough: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Whisk together the flour, semolina, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Whisk the olive oil, vegetable oil, sugar, orange juice, honey and 1/4 cup water in another large bowl until the sugar is dissolved. Add the dry ingredients and mix with your hands, without overworking the dough, until slightly sticky but soft and smooth.
• Grab about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the dough (about 1 ounce) and form it into an oval-shape cookie about 1/2 inch thick. Press the top of the cookie gently on a wire rack to create a diamond pattern then place it, pattern-side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Bake until the cookies are lightly brown, about 25 minutes. Immediately transfer one cookie at a time to the cooled syrup, flipping a couple of times with a slotted spoon, just until absorbed and fully coated, 5 to 10 seconds. Use the slotted spoon to transfer the cookies to a serving platter.
• For the topping: Immediately sprinkle the chopped walnuts over the soaked cookies.

MELOMAKARONA (GREEK OLIVE OIL-HONEY COOKIES)

Steps:

• Make the syrup: In a medium saucepan over high heat, combine sugar, cinnamon sticks and clove with 1 1/3 cups water. Cut orange in half and place in saucepan, flesh down. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until the sugar completely dissolves, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in honey. Set aside to cool completely, leaving the cinnamon, clove and orange in the syrup until ready to use.
• Heat the oven to 375 degrees and line 4 baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick liners, or lightly grease the pans with olive oil.
• Finely grate the zest of 1 orange into a large mixing bowl. Cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice into a measuring cup. If it doesn't measure 1 cup (240 milliliters), squeeze in enough juice from the other orange. Add juice to the bowl with the zest, then mix in olive oil, sugar, brandy, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and salt.
• In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together flour, semolina and baking soda. Gradually, fold in the flour mixture into the olive oil mixture. With a wooden spoon, mix until flour is just evenly incorporated.
• Using your hands, roll dough into 1 1/2-inch ovals or egg-shapes, and place 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Using the palm of your hand, lightly flatten dough. Bake until cookies are golden, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through for even baking.
• Right before the cookies are done, remove the orange, cinnamon sticks and clove from the syrup. As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, and working in batches, dunk the hot cookies in the cool syrup, gently flipping them for about 10 seconds so they can absorb the syrup. Remove cookies from the syrup using a slotted spoon and arrange them on a tray or plate. Sprinkle the center of each cookie with a generous pinch of nuts, patting them lightly so they stick to cookies.
• Once cool, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. To prevent the cookies from sticking together, place sheets of wax or parchment paper between cookie layers.