Melomakarona (Greek Christmas biscuits with honey syrup)

Melomakarona (Μελομακάρονα) is a traditional Greek Christmas sweet biscuit that every house makes for the Christmas holidays. They are delicious!

For the biscuits:

1 kilo all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ground clove

2 teaspoons of baking powder

¾ cup of fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon of baking soda

¾ cup of liquor or cognac

Zest of one orange

1 ½ cup of oil

½ cup of butter or margarine

1 cup of sugar

Some grated walnuts mixed with a bit of cinnamon

For the syrup:

2 cups of water

2 cups of honey

2 cups of sugar

1-2 lemon peels

We put the syrup ingredients all together to boil. We let it boil 3-4 minutes and then withdraw from the fire and let it cool.

We put all the dry ingredients for the biscuits together except for the baking soda. In a bowl, we mix well the oil and the margarine/butter with the sugar. We add the cognac/liquor and the orange juice after we have mixed It with the baking soda. We slowly incorporate the dry ingredients in the mix. We finally add the zest. The result should be a soft dough that is not very sticky and is easy to handle.

We shape normal sized cookies in any design we want. They should not be too thick, just around 2-3 centimeters high.

We bake them in a preheated oven at 180°C for around 20-30 minutes. We take them out when they are golden brown.

We put the hot biscuits in the cold syrup. We let them in for around one minute each, so it absorbs the syrup and we take it out. We sprinkle with grated walnuts mixed with cinnamon after we are finished. Enjoy!