MELOMACARONA
Traditional greek Christmas cookies soaked in honey syrup
This is one of the two kinds of confection that are traditionally
consumed in large quantities in Greece during the holiday season (the other is
kourabiedes). I suppose the name translates to something like "honey
macaroons", except that they are not really macaroons. I got the recipe
from a greek cookbook.
Ingredients
(makes about 40 pieces)
- 1 1/2 cups olive oil
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
(at room temperature)
- 1 cup beer
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- orange peel
(use the grated peel of one orange)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups finely ground semolina
- 6 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
(for the syrup)
- 1 1/2 cup honey
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Procedure
-
Put the olive oil, butter, beer, cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and sugar in a
mixing bowl and beat until they are thoroughly blended.
-
Sift about one cup of flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt,
and blend into the mixture.
-
Add the semolina, a cup at a time, into the mixture.
-
Add the enough of the remaining flour, a cup at a time, until you get a rather
firm dough (you may need a bit more or less than the amount mentioned in the
ingredients list). Use your hands to do the mixing, as an electric mixer will
be useless after the first two or three cups of flour have been added.
-
Roll the dough into cylinders, about
two inches
long
and
one inch
in diameter, flatten them with your hands, and place them on cookie sheets
greased with a little olive oil. Bake at
for half an hour.
-
Remove the cookies from the oven, and let them cool for about half an
hour.
-
Make the syrup: mix the sugar, honey and water, and bring them to a boil.
Cook on low heat for three minutes and skim off the foam that forms on top.
-
Pour the hot syrup over the cookies, sprinkle them with the chopped walnuts
and let them soak overnight.
Notes
You can use flour instead of semolina, but only as a last resort, as you
won't be able to get that wonderful grainy texture which you get if you use
semolina.
The amounts given here are for only half a recipe. Considering that it is very
hard to eat only one melomacarono, making the full recipe may not be as
outrageous as it sounds!
Rating
Difficulty:
Easy to moderate.
Time:
30 minutes preparation, 30 minutes baking, 30 minutes cooling, overnight
soaking.
Precision:
approximate measurement OK.
Contributor
Kriton Kyrimis
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
princeton!kyrimis kyrimis@princeton.edu
Recipe last modified: 13 Dec 87
Original header
Path: decwrl!recipes
From: kyrimis@Princeton.EDU (Kriton Kyrimis)
Newsgroups: alt.gourmand
Subject: RECIPE: Melomacarona (Greek Christmas cookies)
Message-ID: <12242@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: 14 Dec 87 19:59:50 GMT
Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM
Distribution: alt
Organization: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Lines: 88
Approved: reid@decwrl.dec.com
Copyright (C) 1987 USENET Community Trust
Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted
provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial
advantage, the USENET copyright notice and the title of the newsgroup and
its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of
the USENET Community Trust or the original contributor.