Prep Time Syrup: 4hrs
Prep Time Cookies: 15min
Cook Time: 90 min.
Skill: Super Easy
Servings: 42 pieces
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!! These amazing little orange and spice cookies soaked in honey syrup are a must for the Holidays, and baking them will fill your home with the heavenly scents of Christmas….cue Christmas music here! And what says Christmas more than melomakarona?
It’s believed that these cookies were served after funerals, known as a “makaria” in Greek, about five centuries before the birth of Christ. Later during the Byzantine Empire, they were soaked in honey “meli” and were consumed during the 12 days of Christmas. Today you can find them in every home and bakery in Greece during the Christmas Holidays.
What makes these cookies so good? It’s all about the syrup people!!! Soaking these cookies in honey syrup gives them their wow factor, and you know if a melomakarona cookie is really good because they are addictive; you just can’t stop at one!
There are two ways to add the meli to your melomakarona: taking hot cookies straight out of the oven and soaking them in room temperature syrup or taking cool cookies and soaking them in hot syrup. Either way works but here at the bakery, we take the hot cookies fresh out of the oven and add them to a room temperature syrup, and that’s what Chris told me to do, so that’s what I did. These cookies were super easy to make, but you’ll need some prep time depending on how you add the meli to your melomakarona. Here at the bakery, we only use Greek honey in our melomakarona, and the honey you use will affect the overall taste of your cookies.
Right now, we have a great deal on fantastic imported Greek honey which comes in a two-for-the-price-of-one package, so buy one get one free for only CAD 24.99, which is perfect for these cookies as it gives them a great rich taste and is economical. It’s available in-store and online while supplies last. You can find it online here if you are ordering for pick up and here if you are ordering for shipping.
If your schedule is super busy, you’re not a baker, or you just want to spend more time with family and friends this Holiday Season, we got you! Click here to preorder some Serano Bakery melomakarona and any other goodies you may need this Christmas.
Live out of town and want to order some of our cookies and other goodies to be delivered to you or even shipped to your family and friends; we got you covered here too! Click here to order your Serano Bakery melomakarona and any other goodies for shipping anywhere in Canada and the USA. Cut off date for Christmas orders for shipping is December 9th, 2022.
Here’s everything you’ll need!
First, you’ll need a measuring scale. Here at the bakery, we use a scale to measure everything, including liquids. You’ll also need two bowls, at least two baking trays lined with parchment paper or silicon mats, and a cookie rack with another tray underneath so you don’t get syrup all over your counter. See our detailed list of things you’ll need below for more recommended baking paraphernalia.
About 3-4 hours before baking, prepare the syrup and set aside to cool.
In the first bowl, sift the flour, add the remaining dry ingredients (except for icing sugar and baking ammonia), and whisk together. In the second bowl, add the wet ingredients, including orange zest and icing sugar. Be sure to dilute the baker’s ammonia into the orange juice before adding it to the wet ingredients. Make sure to use a large enough glass because the reaction from the baker’s ammonia will cause the orange juice to foam up, and you don’t want it spilling over as it did for Effie lol (see Instagram reel here).
Using a spatula, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and then add the crushed walnuts. Mix until all the ingredients in the bowl come together. The mixture will be wet at first but will quickly come together to the point that you should be able to roll a ball without any mixture sticking to your hands. If the mixture is still a little wet and sticky, slowly add more sifted flour (about 1tbsp at a time) until the mixture is no longer sticking to your hands.
In this recipe, we’ve weighed out our cookies to approx. 40g each, but you can have them weigh anywhere between 35g to 45g. This recipe will yield 42 cookies at 40g each. Roll out each cookie into an oval/egg shape and fill a baking tray leaving about 1.5″ between each one. A 13″x18″ standard baking tray will hold 15 cookies. After rolling them out, take a fork and press down slightly on each cookie, leaving the imprint of the fork. This helps them bake more evenly and soak up more syrup. You could also poke them about four times on top with the fork and roll them over a spider strainer or a curved nut grater to achieve the same effect.
Bake times vary depending on your oven, but these usually take between 25-30min at 370℉. You want these cookies to brown slightly on the top but not to burn on the bottom. At 40g each, these took 28min in my gas oven at home.
Once done, remove from the oven and dip in the cooled honey syrup immediately. I do about 4-5 cookies at a time and let them soak, flipping them over about 3-4 times each. These cookies soak up the syrup fast, so you don’t want to leave them in there for too long otherwise, they could collapse or get super mushy. Test one first by breaking it in half and seeing if it’s still dry inside; you want them to be nice and juicy. These cookies need some time for the flavours to come together, and I find they taste way better the next day.
Melomakarona can be made ahead of time and are great for gifting. If you’re making these ahead of consuming/gifting, you’d let the melomakarona cool and then place them in an airtight container and refrigerate or in a cold room. My cold room (the uninsulated storage space under my front porch) gets as cold as a fridge during the winter months, so I put all my cookies in there to store until I assemble my little sweet gifts for Christmas. Once ready to serve or gift, brush the cookies with warm honey and sprinkle with crushed walnuts.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
• Syrup
• 400g water
• 400g sugar
• 400g honey
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• Rind of 1/2 lemon
Cookies
• 650g sifted all-purpose flour
• 150g fine semolina flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 3tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tsp ground cloves
• 200g vegetable oil
• 100g olive oil
• 120g water
• 200g orange juice
• 1tsp baker’s ammonia
• 150g icing sugar
• Zest of 1 orange
• 25g cognac
• 1 cup crushed walnuts
• Extra honey and crushed walnuts for finishing
Note: This is a traditional melomakarona recipe and is not used here at the bakery. However, we tested this recipe several times, and it’s very, very good, and they are equally addictive!
Things You’ll Need
• Measuring scale
• Two large bowls
• Sifter
• Spatula
• 3 Baking trays
• Cookie rack
• Parchment paper or silicon baking mats
• Silicon pastry brush
• Potato peeler
• Measuring spoons
• Zester
Instructions
1. Place water, sugar and lemon rind into a medium pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add cinnamon sticks and honey, stir and remove from heat. Set aside and cool for 3-4 hours. Once cooled, remove the cinnamon sticks and lemon rind.
2. Preheat oven to 370℉.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sifted flour, semolina, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and baking powder.
4. In a separate large bowl, add vegetable oil, olive oil, water, orange zest and cognac. Mix orange juice with the baker’s ammonia in a large glass or measuring cup. The baker’s ammonia will cause the juice to foam up. Add the orange juice mixture to the other wet ingredients in the bowl, then add the icing sugar and whisk together.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and then add the crushed walnuts. Using a spatula, mix the ingredients. Do not over-mix the dough; just mix until it comes together. If your mixture is too wet and you can’t form a rolled ball in your hands without the dough sticking, add a little more sifted flour 1 tbsp at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to your hands.
6. Measure dough into a 40g ball for each cookie and roll it into an oval/egg shape. Place on a cookie tray covered with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
7. Bake in the oven for 25-30min until slightly golden brown on top.
8. Remove cookies from the oven and immediately place each cookie in the honey syrup flipping them over 3-4 times per side. Remove and place on a cookie rack over a baking tray to strain.
9. Place extra honey in a glass bowl and microwave until warm, and brush over each cookie. Sprinkle with more crushed walnuts.
Tips: Measure out all the ingredients carefully before mixing your ingredients. In one of our test kitchens, we were a little willy-nilly with our measurements, and we didn’t get the best-tasting cookies with that batch.
If you are storing these cookies in the fridge, we recommend removing them about 30 min before finishing them off with warm honey and extra walnuts.
Enjoy!!!