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Greek Christmas Cookies with Olive Oil, Melomakarona
4.15 from 14 votes
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Olive Oil Nut-and-Spice Cookies / Melomakarona me Elaiolado

These cookies are a Greek Christmas specialty, but they are great with your morning coffee every day of the year, too.
Course breakfast, brunch, dessert
Cuisine Greek cuisine, Mediterranean diet
Keyword Christmas, cinnamon, Diane Kochilas, festive, traditional dessert, warm spices
PREP TIME 45 minutes
COOK TIME 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • For the Syrup
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup honey
  • ½ cup/120 ml water
  • 1 medium cinnamon stick
  • One-inch/2.5-cm-wide strip lemon zest
  • For the Cookies
  • 3-3 ½ cups all-purpose flour as needed
  • 1 scant tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp. ground cloves
  • 1 cup/240 ml extra-virgin Greek olive oil
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ cup/120 ml fresh orange or lemon juice
  • ¼ cup/60 ml brandy
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • Grated zest of 1 orange

Instructions

  1. 1. Make the syrup: Bring the sugar, honey, and water to a boil in a medium-size saucepan. Add the cinnamon and lemon zest and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes. Let cool completely.

  2. 2. For the cookies: Sift together 3 cups of the flour, the baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the olive oil with the sugar until creamy. Stir the baking soda into the citrus juice and add to the oil-and-sugar mixture. Add the brandy, walnuts, and grated zest and continue mixing vigorously until combined.