There are two basic traditional Christmas desserts in Greece: Kourampiedes and Melomakarona! What’s your favorite? Head up to my post for kourampiedes to read my tips and recipe.
Melomakarona Tips
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- If you want your melomakarona to be slightly “honeyed” you will have to let them in the syrup until they stop make bubbles, otherwise leave longer.
- Best way for the melomakarona to soak all the syrup is by soaking in cold syrup while they are super hot, straight out of the oven.
- Be careful while baking them! You should bake them until they get a nice golden color, otherwise they will not be able to suck the syrup.
- A traditional secret to make the best melomakarona is this following: Once you make the dough, right before you give them the right shape, put a whole nut in the middle of the dough (whole, not crushed) and then shape each melomakarono.
- The honey you use for the syrup should be as thin as possible (best is thyme honey).
- You should not add all the flour from the beginning while kneading because you may come to a very tight dough. Add it in small portions
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To make chocolate covered melomakarona
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- Always choose dark chocolate or dark milk chocolate, depending on your personal preferences.
- Melt the chocolate in double boiler while adding a little vegetable oil to make it more shiny.
- You should cover your melomakarona in chocolate once they come to room temperature
- Sprinkle them with crushed walnuts and leave them on a baking sheet to rest
- Apart from crushed walnuts you may also use crushed pistachio.
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Ingredients
For the melomakarona
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- 400 g. orange juice (and zest of oranges) ,
- 250 g. sunflower ,
- 250 gr. olive oil ,
- 80 g. cow butter, melted ,
- 30g. icing sugar ,
- 1/2 tsp baking soda ,
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon ,
- 1/5 tsp cloves ,
- 1.200 g. flour for all purposes ,
- 500 g. chopped nuts for serving ,
- Extra honey for serving
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- 500 g. water ,
- 700 g. sugar ,
- 1 orange, washed, cut in two ,
- Three cinnamon sticks ,
- 100 g. honey
Instructions
Syrup-
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- In a pot, boil the water, sugar, orange and cinnamon sticks. ,
- Allow to boil for 1 minutes (from the moment it reaches the boiling point) and remove fro stove. Pour in the honey, mix well and leave it to drop temperature.
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- In a large bowl, add all liquid ingredients and butter. ,
- Then add the icing sugar, baking soda and all the spices. ,
- Mix well by hand and add flour in portions while stirring. ,
- Keep on stirring by hand for a while until you have a homogeneous mixture. ,
- Give your melomakarona a small oval shape and give them the traditional side shape using the cheese grater. ,
- Place them on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven at 180 ° C for about 30 minutes until they get a nice color. ,
- Once you take them out of the oven soak them in the cold syrup. ,
- Let them in the syrup for 1 minute. ,
- Remove them and leave them to drain on a sieve. ,
- Arrange them on a platter, add a little honey and chopped walnuts. ,
- Place a layer of melomakarona and repeat the same process until you run out of melomakarona.
