Melomakarona - A Little Spoon

Get the Recipe: Melomakarona

Also known as Finikia, these Greek honey cookies are a deliciously spiced and soft-textured staple during the holiday season.

5 from 3 ratings

Yield34 cookies

Prep1 30

Cook20

Total1 50

Ingredients

Cookie Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, browned
1 cup cake flour
1¼ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup semolina flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1¼ teaspoons whole cinnamon, freshly ground
½ teaspoon whole cloves, freshly ground
½ teaspoon whole nutmeg, freshly grated
zest of 2 oranges
¼ cup honey
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons canola oil, or other neutral oil
1 tablespoon cognac, brandy
6 tablespoons orange juice, fresh squeezed
honey and chopped walnuts, for topping

Syrup Ingredients

1 cup water
2 cups granulated sugar
¾ cup honey
2 cinnamon sticks
3 whole cloves
½ an orange

Equipment

1 sauce pot
1 sauce pan
1 medium bowl
2 whisks (wet & dry)
4 small bowls
1 microplane or fine grater
1 spice grinder (optional)
1 stand mixer with beater and bowl or hand mixer
1 spatula
2 baking trays
1 #50 cookie scoop (optional)
1 fork
1 cooling rack

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Instructions

First, make the syrup. Add all the ingredients for the syrup, except the honey, to a small sauce pot. Bring everything to a boil for 3-4 minutes. Once all of the sugar has dissolved, remove the pot from the stove and set aside to cool either on the counter or in the refrigerator.
Next, add the butter to a small saucepan on medium heat. Make sure to continuously stir or swirl the pan as the butter melts and then froths. When you see the milk solids turn a light brown color, turn off the stove and move the pan from the heat. The butter will continue to cook and should end up a nice warm brown. Let it cool just enough to pour into a small bowl or container and place the browned butter in the refrigerator to re-harden for about 30-45 minutes.
Now you can prepare the rest of the ingredients for the dough. In a medium bowl mix the semolina flour, cake flour, AP flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices with a whisk and set aside. Next, add the rest of the ingredients into 4 small bowls: one with the honey; one with the orange zest; one with the oils; and one with the orange juice and the cognac. Set those aside too.
Preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C). By now the brown butter should be chilled and hardened. Scrape it out of the bowl and into the bowl of a stand mixer with beater attachment. Turn the mixer to medium speed and let it whip for 2-3 minutes. The butter will lighten and increase in volume. About 30 seconds into whipping add in the orange zest. Once whipped, drizzle in the honey until incorporated and then add in the oils. The mixture will be very liquid.
At this point, you can begin adding in the flour and orange juice mixtures in tandem. Add ¼ of the flour, ⅓ of the liquid, ¼ flour, etc until both are gone. As soon as the flour mixes in, stop the machine. Do NOT overmix. The dough should be very soft and slightly sticky. If you overmix the dough it will toughen and the syrup won't soak through the cookie.
Now, it's time to shape the first batch of cookies. Because the cookies need to be HOT when they are soaked into the syrup (for better absorption), I suggest making between 8-12 cookies in each batch for 2 rounds of dipping per batch. The syrup recipe makes enough for dunking between 3-4 cookies at a time, so you need to work quickly even with smaller batches.
First, line two baking trays with silicone mats or parchment paper. Use a #50, 1.6in (4cm) cookie scoop to portion out a cookie. Each one should be roughly 1.3tbsp or 20-25g of dough. Roll the scooped dough into a log and gently press it between your palms to make an egg shape cookie. It will be roughly 1/3in (.75cm) thick. Lay the cookie down and use the back of a fork to press tang marks into the dough in a rolling motion from base to prongs. You can also simply prick the fork prongs into the cookie a few times. The cookies won't spread so they can be relatively close to each other if needed. Bake the cookies for 20 minutes.
While they are baking, setup your dipping station. Place a cooling rack on top of parchment paper or aluminum foil. Bring over your now-cooled syrup and remove the orange, cinnamon, and cloves. Mix in the honey and set aside for dipping. You may also want to use either an offset spatula or fork to lift and drop the cookies into the syrup. I use my fingers, but they are pretty heatproof at this point. Finally, make sure the leave space for the hot pan to go so everything is within reach.
When done, the cookies will be just crisp on the outside and still soft and spongy in the middle. Quickly move 3-4 cookies at a time to the syrup and push them gently under for 5-7 seconds. Flip each cookie over and submerge again for another 5-10 seconds. The cookies will darken in color and soften as they absorb the honey. Gently remove them and move them to the cooling rack.
Repeat the process until all of the hot cookies have been soaked. Then form another batch of cookies, bake, and dip them in syrup. The recipe should make between 30-34 cookies.
After the honey has fully absorbed into the cookies and they have cooled, drizzle fresh honey over them and top with chopped walnuts.

Notes

Melomakarona get better with time. Peak eating is between 2-5 days after making them.
Store the melomakarona at room temperature (only), in an airtight container, for up to 2 weeks.
If you don't mind have a ton of extra syrup, double or triple that portion of the recipe so you can dip more cookies at a time. The trick is to have a maximum of 3 dipping rounds per batch of cookies, otherwise they become too cool to absorb enough syrup. The less rounds, the better.
If you really want to, you can dip the cookies longer than instructed, but I wouldn't recommend much more time. If the cookies start to fall apart, they've soaked for too long. (I know it's obvious, but here we are.)

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