118Melomakarona

Method

Traditional olive oil and thyme honey biscuits. Makes about 30 biscuits; serve arranged in a pyramid on a festive platter.

You will need

• baking sheets
• baking parchment
• saucepan
• slotted spoon
• whisk

1. Prepare the syrup by bringing 250ml water, 300g sugar, and 1 cinnamon stick to a boil in a saucepan for 3 minutes, then remove from heat, stir in 200g thyme honey, and set aside to cool thoroughly. 6 min Ready when: sugar dissolves and honey is fully incorporated
2. Preheat a conventional oven to 180°C (350°F) and line two large baking sheets with baking parchment. 2 min · 180°C / 350°F
3. In a wide bowl, whisk together the olive oil, sunflower oil, icing sugar, brandy, grated orange zest, ground cinnamon, and ground cloves. 2 min Ready when: liquids are smooth and blended
4. Dissolve the 0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda into the 120ml orange juice over the bowl (it will foam vigorously) and immediately pour it into the oil mixture. 1 min Ready when: foaming juice combines with the wet base
5. Add the semolina and flour, then mix gently by hand for no more than 30 seconds just until the dough comes together; do not knead or the oil will separate. 1 min Ready when: soft, pliable dough that does not split
6. Shape portions of 30g dough into small oval cylinders, place them on the baking trays, and press the top lightly against the pattern of a fork or wire skimmer. 15 min Ready when: neat embossed oval biscuits
7. Bake in the conventional oven at 180°C (350°F) for 23 to 25 minutes until deep golden and crisp. 25 min · 180°C / 350°F Ready when: biscuits are dark golden and firm to the touch
8. Drop the hot biscuits straight from the oven into the cold syrup in batches of 4 or 5, soaking for 20 to 30 seconds per side, then transfer to a platter and sprinkle immediately with crushed walnuts. 10 min Ready when: biscuits absorb syrup without becoming mushy

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Make ahead and storing

Melomakarona improve after 1 to 2 days as the syrup balances through the biscuit.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 weeks.

Substitutions

• light olive oil for sunflower oil. Can use all olive oil, though blending with sunflower oil makes for a lighter crumb.

Common mistakes

• Overworking the dough. Causes oil to separate from the flour, yielding tough, greasy biscuits that cannot absorb syrup.
• Using warm syrup on hot biscuits. Makes the biscuits collapse into soggy mush; the syrup must be cold when the biscuits are piping hot.

Regional variants

• In parts of Asia Minor origin, the biscuits are stuffed with chopped spiced walnuts before baking.
• Some island traditions substitute grape molasses (petimezi) for part of the honey.

About the dish

Melomakarona are the quintessential Greek Christmas sweet. Etymologically linked to the ancient makaria—a funerary barley cake eaten at memorial feasts—over centuries the biscuit evolved into a joyous festive confection enriched with honey (meli). Because traditional dough contains oil rather than dairy butter, it complies strictly with the Nativity fast before Christmas Day. Baked crisp and embossed with a patterned fork or cheese grater, they are plunged while cold into hot honey syrup and showered with crushed walnuts and cinnamon.

Found in all of Greece. Cooked for christmas, new year.

Cousins elsewhere

• Şekerpare (Turkish). Similar small semolina biscuits baked crisp then steeped in scented syrup.
• Finikia (Cypriot). Cypriot finikia are virtually identical honey-soaked biscuits, occasionally stuffed with chopped nuts.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

248 kcal · protein 2.8 g · fat 12 g (saturated 1.4 g) · carbohydrate 33.5 g (sugars 17.6 g) · fibre 1 g · sodium 27 mg

An estimate (summed from ingredient estimates) that varies with the exact ingredients. It is not dietary advice.

Written fresh by Epikouria editors from general culinary tradition. Recipe by the Epikouria editors. Standard pan-Hellenic Christmas home tradition, balancing olive oil and citrus..

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