Greek Sweets · 3 min read
What Are Melomakarona? Greek Honey Christmas Cookies
Melomakarona are Greek Christmas cookies made with olive oil and orange, soaked in honey syrup and topped with walnuts. A guide to how they are made.
Melomakarona are soft, spiced Greek Christmas cookies made with olive oil, orange juice and semolina or flour, soaked in honey syrup after baking and sprinkled with chopped walnuts. They are dark, fragrant and moist. Together with kourabiedes, they are the essential Greek Christmas pair.
The name
Meli means honey in Greek. The rest of the name is often traced to makaria, a bread eaten at funerals in older Greek tradition, though the etymology is debated. Today the cookie is firmly a Christmas sweet.
How they are made
Olive oil, sugar, orange juice and zest, cinnamon and cloves are mixed with flour, a little semolina and baking soda into a soft dough. It is shaped into ovals, sometimes pressed with a fork, and baked until golden. While still warm, the cookies are dipped in cool honey syrup for a few seconds and topped with walnuts.
Getting the texture right
Overworking the dough makes melomakarona hard. Leaving them too long in the syrup makes them fall apart. The ideal is crisp at the edge and moist in the middle. Many bakers say they taste better on the second day.
Honey, orange and walnuts, the smell of a Greek December.
Storage
They keep for a week or more in a tin. Do not refrigerate; it dries them.
Ask Délices
We bake by the season, so call us to ask what's on the counter today, or to plan Greek Christmas cookies for an occasion: +20 3 486 1432. You'll find us at 46 Saad Zaghloul Street, Raml Station, open daily 8 AM – 1 AM.
