Melomakarona - the ultimate Greek Christmas biscuit dipped in honey with walnuts sprinkled on top!
When I think of Christmas, I have this wonderful memory of my mother and I, spending days upon days in the kitchen, baking Melomakarona. They sum up Christmas in one bite!
Every household in Greece will either bake Melomakarona or buy them from the local bakery to serve to guests during the festive period. I have fond memories of going to family and friend's houses in Athens eating all of their delicious Christmas sweets. Melomakarona isn't the only popular Greek biscuit during this festive period, two other favourites are Kourabiedes (shortbread style biscuits) and Diples (fried dough drizzled in honey).
During the years, I have experimented with various recipes for Melomakarona, as the key step is to get the syrup quantity just right. You don't want to soak them for too long as they then will become too syrupy, however a dry biscuit just isn't a Melomakarona so you need to soak them for just the right amount of time to get that that crisp outer edge but soft syrupy middle. Some people allow the biscuits to cool down before dunking in syrup but I recommend doing it when they have just come out of the oven and are still warm. My golden rule of a 4 second dunk in the syrup seems to have nailed the ultimate Greek Melomakarona texture!
I have based my recipe on my favourite Greek chef's version of Melomakarona - Argiro Barbarigou but added in my own twists. Another great thing about these biscuits is that they are dairy-free, however be warned, they are highly addictive!
Here is my recipe for Melomakarona (makes 50 biscuits):
Ingredients
For the biscuits:
240g Olive oil
240g Sunflower oil
50ml Brandy
160ml Orange juice
850g Plain flour
2tsps Baking powder
1tsp Baking soda
200g White sugar
1tsp Clove powder
2tsps Cinnamon
Grated peel of 2 oranges (not waxed)
Chopped/ crushed walnuts for sprinkling on top (a large handful of walnut halves)
For the honey-syrup
400g White sugar
400g Greek honey (I used honey from Samos island in Greece)
400g Water
1/2 Lemon (not waxed)
Instructions
1. Preheat the over at 160 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the olive oil, sunflower oil, brandy, sugar, cinnamon, clove powder and grated orange peel.
2. Pour the orange juice into a measuring jug and mix in the baking soda. It will immediately start to fizz. Pour it into the oil mixture and whisk.
3. In a separate bowl combine the flour and baking powder. Pour this into the oil mixture and mix all together with a whisk or your hands. The key is to not mix the dough too much.
4. Take walnut size pieces of dough and roll into small oval shaped balls to form biscuits. Place them on a baking tray covered in baking paper. Allow a little space between each biscuit as they will rise a bit. Using a fork pinch the top (just like the photo below), this will allow the syrup to seep in later.
5. Bake for 30min, until they turn a nice golden colour. You may have to do two batches depending on how big your oven is.
6. Whilst the biscuits are cooking, prepare the syrup. Add all of the syrup ingredients into a saucepan and bring to boil for 3-4 minutes.
7. When the biscuits are ready, take them out of the oven and place them to one side. The soaking of the biscuits is the most crucial element. I usually use a slotted spoon (a serving spoon with holes in it) but you can use something similar to dunk the biscuits into the syrup.
8. The best way to get the biscuits to absorb the right amount of syrup is to dunk them whilst they are still hot. Carefully dunk each biscuit, one at a time, into the syrup for 4 seconds (ensure they are full submerged into the syrup) and then place on a clean plate.
9. Once all biscuits have been dunked, crumble some chopped/ crushed walnuts on top.
10. When all the biscuits have cooled down, you can stack them on top of each other like the picture below. Store them at room temperature (never in the fridge) in an airtight container or simply put some clingfilm over the plate - they will last for the festive period.
Kala Xristougenna - Merry Christmas!!
Kali orexi - enjoy!!
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