back to top Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
CLICK HERE FOR FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES, LINK BUTTONS AND MORE! »
English French German Spain Italian Dutch Russian Portuguese Japanese Korean Arabic Chinese Simplified

Follow me on Google +

Like me on Facebook!

Thanks for following!

Follow me at Bloggers.com

The Greek Housewife - Find me on Bloggers.com
GreekBloggers.com

Vote for me!

Photos of Greece

Popular Posts

Greek word of the day

Join Me!

Ponderwonders
Amanda’s Books and More
Tots and Me
Tots and Me
Super Sunday Sync
At Home Take 2
Marine Wife Home and Life

Blogroll

VICKILICIOUS. Powered by Blogger.

January 11, 2013

MELOMAKARONA

      No, I still haven't solved the problem with blogger - see previous post -- but I found a way around it for the time being ... so here's (finally) a new post.

MELOMAKARONA



      I've told you before, that Greeks  are very hospitable people and like to have guests at the house who they treat as royals (older generations -like my mom- would be offended if you as a guest would not accept at least one of the thousands of treats she will offer!) They like to have an array of sweets, cookies, appetizers out for offering to the  guests so one can just imagine the amount and variety of treats Greeks have during Christmas.



      Two mouthwatering cookies/sweets are the stars of the Christmas holidays Kourabiethes and Melomakarona - and I've already given you the recipe for the Kouriabethes. Now, as promised,  I have to give you the recipe for the Melomakarona! (I always keep my promises!) Couldn't make it during the holidays' posts but if you want to try it you still can any time of the year - they'll still be a fantastic treat.
 
     I have to warn you they are a bit troublesome but believe me well worth it! Just imagine the following flavors in your mouth all at once …orange, walnut, honey, clove, cinnamon…. Yum!
 
      The Melomakarona are the most loved Christmas cookies. They are spiced cookies, fragrant from cinnamon, clove and orange zest. The cookies are then dunked in a syrup and topped with  walnut crumbs.
  

INGREDIENTS

For the dough

-2 cups olive oil
-1 cup sugar
-1 cup orange juice
-8 cups of pastry flour (or 7 cups of flour plus 1 cup of fine
  semolina flour)
-1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
-Zest of one orange
-One 2 inch lemon rind
-pinch of salt
-1 tsp ground cinnamon
-2 tsp baking powder
-1/4 cup brandy (Metaxa)
-1/2 tsp ground clove

For the syrup 

-2 cups honey
-2 cups sugar
-2 cups water
-1 cinnamon stick
-3 whole cloves
-1 tsp lemon juice
-1 strip lemon peel
-3/4 cup walnuts ground coarsely


Pre-heat the oven at 350F (180-200 Celsius)
  1. You should make your syrup first. To a pot add your sugar, water, honey, lemon peel, cinnamon stick lemon juice and cloves and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes and then remove from the heat and allow to cool (Tip: the success of the recipe lies on the factor: "cool syrup and hot cookies" or vice versa).
  2. Into a large bowl, add the sugar and oil and blend with your hand mixer for 5 minutes and then add your orange zest, cinnamon and clove and mix in as well. Dissolve your baking soda in the orange juice (be careful it overflows!) and along with the brandy  pour into the bowl.
  3. Now add the salt and baking powder in the flour and semolina flour and add into the bowl one cup at a time while  mixing with your hands and kneading in with your hands until you’ve achieved a soft, pliable dough that’s not sticky. Allow the dough to rest covered for 30 minutes.
  4. Using your hands, roll the dough into small balls (about the size of ping pong balls), then form them into oval shaped shaped cookies.
  5. Place your cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake in a pre-heated oven (middle rack) for 30 minutes until pastries are firm and golden brown. (Make sure the oven is hot before baking, otherwise the pastries will flatten).
  6. Using a large slotted spoon , drop the hot cookies into the cool syrup for no more than 3 minutes to absorb the syrup then flip for 1 minute on the other side. Reserve on a cooling rack and repeat until all the cookies are dunked in syrup. (OR let them cool down and heat the syrup and continue with the procedure. Remember: one of the two has to be cool while the other hot!)
  7. Sprinkle with crushed walnuts. Allow to cool. (Do not refrigerate!)
  8. Store in a cool, dry (air-tight) container for almost up to a month.

      

 Καλή όρεξη!
  
                   Bon Appetit!

Watch this interesting video for more instructions!                            




      For all the chocoholics out there! ... there are also chocolate covered Melomakarona as well!

Sinfully delicious!!!






Blog Widget by LinkWithin

13 comments:

  1. Stopping by from Lovin' the Weekend blog hop!
    Those treats look soo yummy! My husband loves sweets so he'd have no trouble eating as many of those treats as you would offer him LOL

    ReplyDelete
  2. They all look really good.

    Stopping by from the weekend blog hop to say hello.POSH

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Posh and thanks for stoppping by!

      Delete
  3. THanks for stopping by Lilly Through The Valley and I am following you back. Your treats look amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, Great post. I found you through the blog hop. Now following you.Please stop by and say hi when you get a chance.

    Be sure and check out my new Blog Hop that we just started, It's Weekly Goals Link Up. It's a great way to stay on track. Have a great day. :) Here's the link in case you want to check it out. Thanks again.http://lenettacarnes.blogspot.com/2013/01/weekly-goals-linkup-1.html

    Also,My daughter, Kisha, also is taking over Fill In the Blank Fridays. The person doing it has decided she can't do it anymore so Kisha is now doing it. Her first one is today. Would love for you to join us there also. It's a fun one. Her blog ishttp://www.kjaggers.com/2013...

    You can also go to her page and at the to sign up for a reminder on both of these each week
 Have a wonderful evening. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. They all look delish! Makes me wanna visit a Greek household now. Thanks for sharing the dish and glad to discovery your blog today :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Come on by! I'll gladly treat you to a few!!!

      Delete
  6. Cookies look great! I miss gabbing with you! I hope you'll be able to fix your Blogger issues soon <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a bit late answering your comment but I sort of fixed it! I missed gabbing with you, too.

      Delete
  7. I love cookies and these looks absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
    I have heard others have problems with blogger too... I think Explorer is the problem. I cannot upload photos from Picasa to blogger in Explorer, but it works in google chrome.

    ReplyDelete
  8. looks so yum! thanks for sharing the recipes!

    xx,
    klee

    kisskissbyklee.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm glad you like the recipe! I finally went through Mozilla Firefox and fixed my problem!

    ReplyDelete