Melomakarona Recipe (Greek Christmas Honey Cookies)

Every Greek household makes melomakarona at Christmas, and the arguments about them are ferocious: how much orange, whether to use brandy, whether the syrup should be honey-heavy or sugar-heavy, and above all whether they should be soft the whole way through or keep a little bite.

What nobody argues about is the structure. They are an olive oil cookie, dry and slightly crumbly when baked, that then absorbs a spiced honey syrup and turns soft and heavy. That means the same temperature rule as baklava: hot cookies into cold syrup, or cold cookies into hot syrup, never both hot.

They are also, entirely by accident, vegan. No butter, no eggs, no milk. This is because they belong to the Christmas fasting period, during which none of those were allowed.

Key preparation steps

1. Make the syrup first and chill it.
2. Mix oil, orange juice and sugar, then fold in the dry ingredients minimally.
3. Shape into ovals and bake until genuinely dry.
4. Drop hot cookies into cold syrup for about a minute, then drain and top with walnuts.

Why olive oil rather than butter?

Because of the fast. The forty days before Christmas exclude dairy, so the traditional Christmas cookie had to be made with oil, and it turns out oil is better suited to the job anyway.

Olive oil gives a more open, crumbly, slightly sandy texture that soaks up syrup readily. A butter cookie is denser and more closed and does not absorb in the same way.

Use a mild olive oil rather than a peppery one, or half olive oil and half a neutral oil. A very robust Cretan oil will fight with the honey and orange.

Do not overwork the dough

This is the one place people go wrong. Mix the wet ingredients thoroughly, then add the dry and fold only until it just comes together. Ten or fifteen seconds of gentle mixing.

Kneading develops gluten, and gluten makes the cookie tough and closed rather than crumbly and absorbent. Tough melomakarona sit in the syrup and refuse to take any of it up.

The dough should feel soft, slightly oily and just barely holding together. If it feels elastic, you have gone too far.

Bake them dry

They need to be properly baked, firm and dry to the touch, before they go anywhere near syrup. A slightly underbaked cookie disintegrates on contact.

Around 25 to 30 minutes at 180C for a standard size. They should be an even light brown and sound hollow when tapped on the base.

The old test is to snap one open: it should be dry and sandy inside with no damp core.

How long in the syrup?

About sixty to ninety seconds, turning once. Long enough to soak the outer half thoroughly, short enough that the centre keeps a little structure.

Leave them in for five minutes and they collapse into sweet mush. Some Greek households like them that way and that is a legitimate preference, but the traditional result has some resistance at the middle.

Lift them out with a slotted spoon, let them drain on a rack over a tray, and press chopped walnuts onto the tops while they are still tacky. Spoon a little extra syrup over at the end.

They keep for two to three weeks in a sealed tin at room temperature and are genuinely better after three days.

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