Greek traditional Christmas cookies (Melomakarona)

The Holidays are near! For us Greeks, this means that some of our favourite festive sweets and desserts will become widely available: Melomakarona, Diples and Kourabiedes.

Our personal favorites are the Melomakarona (pronounced mel-low-ma-KA-row-na); melomakarona are honey-orange-clove-cinnamon syrup-drenched soft cookies that melt in your mouth.

They're THE most popular Christmas & New Year treat, and you can find them in every home here in Greece during the Holiday season.

Many families still follow the tradition of making their own melomakarona, at home. They're quite easy to make, plus this way you can make them just the way you prefer, adjusting the ingredients. If you don't feel like baking though, you can also find melomakarona in every pastry shop/bakery in Greece, during the Holidays period.

Being so popular, melomokarona (as also happens with many other Greek recipes), have many variations. All of them however, include honey, cinnamon and cloves as the main ingredients which determine their flavor. 
There are modernized versions of the recipe, which contain butter or eggs. There are versions with lemon juice/zest instead of orange (which is the most common fruit used), there are versions made without olive oil, other versions with caster sugar, others with baking powder, brandy etc. The list goes on and on.

In this post we will share our own family's version for the recipe, which a more traditional one. It doesn't contain any eggs or butter. Melomakarona is supposed to be a dessert that’s suitable for those following the Orthodox Christian fasting, which doesn't allow the consumption of any dairy/animal products. So, this is a recipe that is great for vegetarians, as well! 

Now, picture this; your home is decorated for the Holidays; Perhaps some festive music is playing in the background. You are shaping the melomakarona from olive oil scented dough -if you have kids it's a perfect way to introduce them to the kitchen AND create some beautiful memories at the same time- and your house is already filled with the aroma of the cinnamon, the cloves, the orange and the honey from the syrup; beautiful, healthy ingredients are all around your kitchen counter. Can you resist?

What are the melomakarona made of? The dough is made with vegetable oil (a part of it MUST be olive oil to enhance the taste), flour, semolina, orange juice (AND zest), baking soda, ground cinnamon and clove. As simple as that!
The syrup is made with orange juice, some zest, water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and whole cloves. The aroma is trully amazing.

The only thing you should take into account when making melomakarona is this: if the syrup is hot, then you must throw the cookies in it, in room temperature in order to soak it up properly. Most of the people (us included) do it the other way around; First we prepare the syrup, then let it chill (close to a window or outside to help speed up the process), and then start making the cookies. As soon as we take them out of the oven we throw them in the cold syrup for a few seconds to soak. You can also make the syrup ahead, the day before, to make things easier.

The final touch in melomakarona, is drizzling them with juuuust a little more honey (use a small fork dipped in honey to achieve that) and sprinkling a few ground walnuts on top of each layer of cookies. Oh yes, there are layers! Most people put the melomakarona on top of each other forming a small pyramid/cone and finally cover them with some cling film. The form of the stacked cookies is reminiscent of the tip of a Christmas tree.

Making melomakarona can sometimes be a little time consuming, but they totally worth it! You will not regret making them at home. It's no accident they are extremely popular here. And if you like cinnamon and honey, you will definitely be addicted to these cookies. This is a recipe you'll be using every year around Christmas (and maybe not just then;) ). We honestly cannot emphasize enough that you must try melomakarona at least once in your lifetime! :)
So let's see how to make them!