Christmas honey sweets - (Melomakarona)-greece
Why I Love This Recipe
These honey cookies (also called finikia) are a Christmas tradition all over Greece. The recipe is very forgiving except in two areas: the dough should not be overworked or the cookies will become too dense; and the shape should be rounded, not flat or they will harden during baking. The baked cookies should have a texture slightly more dense than spice cake in order to absorb the syrup
Ingredients You'll Need
1 1/2 cups of sunflower oil
1 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of fresh orange juice
1/4 cup of cognac (or 1 teaspoon of cognac flavoring)
3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of fine-ground semolina
1 teaspoon baking soda
grated peel of 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of grated cloves (or ground cloves)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 320F (160C) with a convection oven, or 350F (180C) with a conventional oven.
Dissolve the baking soda in the orange juice.
Put all the dry ingredients (flour, semolina, sugar, spices) in a bowl and mix until blended with a whisk.
In the middle, create a well and add the liquid ingredients (oil, cognac or flavoring, orange juice). Knead the dough until it sticks to your hands.
To shape the cookies take a fistful of dough and make it into a log. Press the dough gently with your fingers on one side to flatten slightly. The shape of the cookies can be rounded, oval or a small log
Place the cookies well spaced in a greased cookie sheet (or on parchment cooking paper, or on a non-stick cookie sheet), place on the middle rack in the oven and bake until browned (about 15-20 minutes}. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on baking racks.
