Learn how to make Melomakarona, my favorite Christmas cookie of all time.
Melomakarona are one of the most beloved Greek desserts. Families traditionally serve these honey walnut cookies at Christmastime along with powdered-sugar dusted Kourabiedes. It’s a festive cookie—boasting spices like cinnamon and cloves—tender and crumbly, and moist from its final swim in a spiced honey syrup. The syrup is similar to the one you would drizzle over baklava. Melomakarona is the plural of melomakarono, but that is irrelevant because you’d never eat just one. Every Greek family has their own version of this cookie, and I’m excited to share mine with you.
Ancient origins
The origins of melamakorna date back to ancient Greece. According to Dimitris Stathakopoulos as quoted in The Greek Reporter, “The term makaronia correspondingly comes from the ancient Greek word “makaria,” which used to be a piece of bread in the shape of the modern-day melomakarono, which was offered to people who attended a funeral… Later, the makaria recipe was changed, adding honey (“meli”). Therefore the name changed as well to melomakarono.”
Recipe roots in Crete
This recipe comes from my yiayia (grandmother) and namesake Chrysanthe Xenos. She was born in 1898 in a small village outside of Chania, Crete when it was transitioning out of 250 years of Ottoman occupation to an autonomous state, before the island unified with mainland Greece. When she would make them in her village, she would have only used olive oil as the fat. This is traditional for these cookies because the 40-day period preceding Christmas is a time for fasting (no meat or dairy, among other things) in the orthodox church. After emigrating to the U.S. in 1921, more ingredients like butter and shortening were readily available for her to use, so she modified the recipe. I don’t know how or why she decided to use oil, butter, and shortening, in this recipe but I love the outcome!
A special family history
Her melomakarona were famous in her Waukegan, Illinois community. My father used to help her shape them into their signature oval shape, dip them in the honey syrup, and top them with the walnuts. Since they didn’t have a food processor back then, he used to chop all the walnuts with a kitchen knife and then use a rolling pin to further break down the chopped nuts until they were the perfect size to top the cookies. I never had the opportunity to bake these with my yiayia, since we weren’t normally together at Christmas, but now making them for my family every year always makes me think of her.
Melomakarona success
This is a pretty straight forward recipe. It’s one of my most popular cooking classes, both in-person and virtually. But, you want to make sure to not add too much flour. You’re going for a soft dough. When it cleanly pulls away from the side of your mixing bowl, you should stop adding additional flour. This recipe also abides by the cardinal Greek rule of hot and cold. When you’re adding a syrup to a pastry or cake, make sure that one is hot and the other cold. In this recipe, your cookies need to be hot, so cool your syrup to room temperature or below. This way your cookies have the best chance of soaking up all that goodness.
The recipe
Ingredients
For the syrup
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups water
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 teaspoon whole cloves
- Orange or lemon peel
- 1 tablespoon orange or lemon juice
- 1 cup honey
For the cookies
- 1 cup neutral oil (evoo, grapeseed, canola, etc)
- 1/2 pound butter (room temperature)
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 7-8 cups flour*
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup orange juice (about 2 large oranges) + zest (optional)
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 ounces whiskey or bourbon
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the garnish
- 2 cups ground walnuts
- More honey for drizzling (optional)
Instructions
Make the syrup
- In a 3-quart saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and spices. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved, continue boiling over medium heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the honey. Let the syrup cool to at least room temperature or below. Strain out the cloves, cinnamon sticks, and peels. This can be made in advance.
Make the cookies
- Combine baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt with 1 cup of flour. Set aside.
- Cream the butter, vegetable oil, and shortening in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the sugar, egg yolks, bourbon/whiskey, orange juice, and zest. Beat until creamy and white. Gradually add in the flour/spice mixture and combine.
- Gradually continue adding more flour (a large spoon at a time) until a soft dough starts to form. Once it cleanly pulls away from the side of the mixing bowl, stop adding flour. You don't want the dough to be too stiff, or the cookies will be tough. You likely will not use all the flour. Cover dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Form the cookies by taking a tablespoon of dough and rolling it in your hands to form an oval shape. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the cookies are light brown on the bottom.
- Remove cookies from the oven. Poke 3 holes in the middle of them with a toothpick. Allow them to rest for a few minutes; then carefully submerge batches of them in the syrup for 10-15 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and arrange in a single layer on a wire rack. Top the cookies with an extra drizzle of honey (optional) and the ground walnuts.
- Let cool completely. Store covered with plastic wrap or in a covered container. Cookies should keep for up to a month, but you'll probably eat them all before then.
Notes
Makes 80-100 cookies.
If your spices older/not as fresh, yo will want to use more of them, so your cookies are aromatic and delicious.
You will likely not use all the flour, but keep enough on hand.
Nutrition Facts
Melomakarona
Serves: 80-100 cookies
| Amount Per Serving: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 170.53 kcal | |
| % Daily Value* | ||
| Total Fat 9.19 g | 13.8% | |
| Saturated Fat 2.5 g | 10% | |
| Trans Fat 0.44 g | ||
| Cholesterol 13.01 mg | 4.3% | |
| Sodium 51.03 mg | 2.1% | |
| Total Carbohydrate 20.77 g | 6.7% | |
| Dietary Fiber 0.71 g | 0% | |
| Sugars 11.06 g | ||
| Protein 1.68 g | ||
| Vitamin A 2.46 % | Vitamin C 2.41 % | |
| Calcium 1.41 % | Iron 1.52 % | |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Sweet Greek Personal Chef and Culinary Services Los Angeles, CA