HONEY-DRENCHED ORANGE AND SPICE COOKIES (MELOMAKARONA)

Honey-Drenched Orange and Spice Cookies (Melomakarona) image

Provided by Marilena Leavitt

Yield 40-50 cookies

Number Of Ingredients 18

Previous Next

For the cookies:
1½ cups olive oil
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. orange zest
1 cup fresh orange juice
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
8 cups all purpose flour
For the syrup:
1 cup honey
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
4 strips of orange peel, about ½" wide
The topping:
1½ cups finely chopped toasted walnuts
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cloves (optional)

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.