Melomakarona are Greek honey soaked cookies topped with spiced walnuts that have all the flavors of baklava!!
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Melomakarona are Greek honey cookies traditionally served at Christmas and the recipe has all the delicious flavors of baklava. They’re baked until golden and crisp, then soaked in aromatic honey syrup and garnished with spiced ground walnuts. I make mine a little bit different than the traditional way because ever since I was a little girl I always loved the most syrupy melomakarona. I would search for the plate for them. So, now I just make all of them moist syrupy, and delicious! You’ll see what I mean when you make these.
Why everyone will love Melomakarona Greek Honey Cookies
- Orange flavor burst
- Moist honey-soaked soft center cookie
- Covered in baklava flavor
- The best honey syrup-soaked baklava orange cookies ever!!
Almost vegan & easily vegan
Melomakarona cookies are made with olive oil instead of butter and eggs. The honey syrup makes them very decadent, but they can easily be made vegan by substituting either maple syrup or equal amounts of granulated sugar for the honey. Yes, honey is NOT vegan. I just learned that too!
Greek Orange Honey Cookies with Walnuts
For the dough:
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Olive oil or vegetable oil
- Sugar
- Orange juice
- Zest of 2 oranges – always zest citrus before juicing
For the syrup:
- Sugar
- Water
- Honey –Greek honey is the best!
For the garnish:
- Ground walnuts
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground cloves
How to make Melomakarona Greek Honey Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350 °F, 180 °C.
- Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and orange zest in a bowl.
- Combine the oil and sugar in another bowl by whisking until the sugar has dissolved.
- Mix the orange juice and the baking soda in a small bowl until combined and bubbly, and then add it to the oil mixture.
- Then, add the oil/juice mixture to the flour mixture and mix until a dough is formed. Be careful not to overmix so that the oil does not separate from the dough. If the dough seems a bit too dry and crumbly, add 2-3 tablespoons of orange juice and knead together with a spatula or your hands.
- Turn the dough out onto a work surface, compress it and form a circle.
- Then, roll out to ½ inch in thickness. Do not use any additional flour to do this.
- Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and place them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Use a fork to make marks on each cookie.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
While the cookies are baking, make the syrup.
- Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir continuously until the sugar dissolves.
- Then, remove it from the heat and stir in the honey until incorporated.
- As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, put them all together in one of the trays and pour the hot syrup over them.
- After 15 minutes, carefully flip each cookie over so that both sides absorb the syrup.
- Allow the cookies to absorb the syrup in the pan for at least 1 hour.
Baklava Topping
- Combine ground walnuts, cinnamon, and clove powder and mix well.
- Sprinkle this garnish over each cookie.
Make ahead!
These classic Greek cookies stay fresh for up to 2 weeks at room temperature in an airtight container. However, you can even make an extra batch to eat later. Just cool your cookies without syrup and store them in an airtight container up to 3 weeks. When you’re ready to serve them, make the syrup and soak them in it for 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle your topping on and serve!
Serving
A trick I use for the cookie topping is adding the cinnamon and clove powder to my food processor when grinding my walnuts. It blends everything together for me and does a much better job combining the flavors, so each cookie tastes like baklava! Call some friends over and serve with tea and Greek coffee.
MELOMAKARONA: GREEK HONEY COOKIES WITH WALNUTS
These melomakarona cookies have all of the delicious flavors of baklava. They're baked until golden and crisp then soaked in an aromatic honey syrup, and garnished with spiced ground walnuts. Perfect for a Christmas cookie exchange or a tea party!
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 4 cups (580g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup light olive oil or vegetable oil
- ½ (100g) cup of sugar
- ½ cup (125ml) of orange juice
- Zest of 2 oranges
For the syrup:
- 2 cups of sugar
- 2 cups of water
- 2 cups honey
For the garnish:
- ¾ cup ground walnuts
- 1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F, 180 °C.
- Place the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and orange zest into a bowl. Whisk together to combine.
- Always zest citrus before juicing.
- Combine the oil and sugar in another bowl and whisk together until the sugar has dissolved.
- Combine the orange juice and the baking soda together. Mix it and add to the oil mixture.
- Add the oil mixture to the flour mixture and mix together until a dough is formed.Be careful not to overmix so that the oil does not separate from the dough. If the dough seems a bit too dry and crumbly add 2-3 tablespoons of orange juice and knead together with a spatula or your hands.
- Turn the dough out onto a work surface, compress it and form a circle. Roll out to ½ inch in thickness. Do not use any additional flour to do this.
- Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out the cookies. Place them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Use a fork to make marks on each cookie.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
- While the cookies are baking make the syrup. Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add the honey. Stir until incorporated.
- As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, put them all together in one of the trays and pour the hot syrup over them.
- After 15 minutes, carefully flip each cookie over so that both sides absorb the syrup. Allow the cookies to absorb the syrup in the pan for at least 1 hour.
- Combine the ground walnuts, cinnamon, and clove powder and mix well. Sprinkle this garnish over each cookie and serve!
Notes
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.
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Best recipe for melomakarouna! I just tweaked it a bit .. I added some cognac to the dough and I used lite olive oil instead of vegetable oil
I like this recipe. This year, I’m using a 2” circle to cut out not a 2 1/4” circle as you suggest. Given this smaller diameter, my instinct tells me to reduce baking time to avoid overcooking which may prevent the absorption of the honey sauce, the best part of the cookie taste and texture. What do you think?
It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on them. A soon as they’ve reached that perfect color of golden brown, they’re ready!! Enjoy them. These are our faves!!
It seems to be an very long time to absorbe the syrup (30 minutes on 1 side and 2 hrs on the other side).
Yet, if I have made the cookies without the syrup, and store for a couple of weeks, your recipe to soak the cookies for a couple of minutes. Please clarify for me.
Also, when I put the cookies on a tray, then pour syrup over cookies, should the cookies be ssingle-layered or stacked? What type of container/pan to use to place cookies before pouring syrup over them?
Thank you, in advance for answering these questions. 🙂
Hi Kathy!! The best way to soak them is in a baking pan in a single layer. You may stack them after they’re soaked. I soak them in the same baking pans that they’re baked in so that I don’t have anything extra to wash. You may soak them at another time but I prefer doing it straight away. They stay fresh for a very long time. Up to a month or more. Once they’re soaked, transfer the cookies to airtight storage containers and store at room temperature. Hope this helps!! All the best 🙂
Dimitra I love all your recipes. I Love the way you explain everything… But with a melomakarena is there a different way for the honey instead of soaking them… Can I cool my Honey mixture And plays cookies in that a few at a time?
The traditional way is to dip the cookies in the syrup so, yes, you can do it that way. The syrup should still be warm or they will not absorb it. Let me know how they turn out 🙂
Please say where you got those cookie molds, their manufacturer if possible. Thanks Dimi. ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος.
Hi Eugene! I’ve had these for such a long time that I don’t remember where they’re from. Sorry!! Maybe Sur la Table?
Please say the name and where did you get those cookie molds. Thanks Dimi.
Hi Eugene!! I don’t remember where these are from. I’ve had them for so many years now… Maybe Sur la Table?
I have been so, so happy with the other items I’ve baked (getting ready for Easter) until the Melomakarona recipe. I followed it to a “T”. The dough was VERY dry. I added the juice is a 1/4 of an orange. Still too dry. I resolved the issue by putting a dollop of oil in my hands and handling the dough in small installments. That helped tremendously, but not 100%. My husband said they were delicious but this recipe was somewhat disappointing after beautiful dough from the Kourabiedes and Koulourakia recipes you provide.
I married into a Greek family 52 years ago and made all 3 of these cookies together with my MIL. She usually made her recipes from memory & her recipes, I found unreliable. As I stated earlier my other 2 recipes I got off your site were spot on. What a relief!!!
Thank you for your beautifully done site and wonderful videos. I love that you interject speaking in Greek as my MIL has passed away and I love hearing the language. 🙂 Efharisto
How much salt?
a quarter teaspoon
These cookies look amazing. I will definitely give them a try. My passion is baking so I’m always ready to bake new things.
I always enjoy watching your videos.