Christmas is at the door !! How to make Christmas sweets Greek “melomakarona”.
I still remember that smell of cinnamon in our house in Lefkada during Christmas. I have always in my mind the figures of my mother and my grandmother spending hours in the kitchen making Christmas sweets. But most of all they were those aromas of fresh baked “melomakarona” that made the big difference. Of course, they were and still are my favorite sweets for Christmas.
After all, in Greece it is the most common sweet for Christmas and you will find it almost in every house on the dining table. So, go ahead and give it a try. There’s nothing to be afraid of concerning the cooking process. The recipe is very easy !!
Mother’s Recipe for Melomakarona
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 1000 gr all purpose flour
- 2 coffee spoons of baking powder
- Chopped orange peel from 2 oranges
- 2 coffee spoons cinnamon
- 250 gr sugar
- 250 gr olive oil
- 250 gr corn oil
- 50 gr brandy
- 150 gr fresh orange juice
For the syrup
- 500 gr sugar
- 500 gr water
- 500 gr pure honey (Greek thyme honey for best result)
- Chopped walnuts
Preparation
In a big bowl you mix the olive oil, corn oil, fresh orange juice, brandy, sugar, cinnamon and the chopped orange peel. The secret here is to melt the sugar very well in the mixture. In an other bowl you mix the flour with the baking powder. Then you pour them slowly in the first mixture. At the same time you mix all of them by hand until you have a ball of soft dough like a plasticine. The latter is the secret for soft melomakarona in the end.
Finally, you take small balls, the size of a walnut, from the dough and you shape them like the ones in the above photo. Then you press them lightly with a fork to make lines and little holes on their surface in order to absorb better the syrup later. You put them in columns on a baking tray and you bake them in your oven for 25 minutes in hot air of 165 degrees Celsius. When they are ready you leave them to cool down completely on the tray out of the oven.
For the syrup you need to boil the sugar and the honey in the water. The secret here is during boiling to pick the accumulated foam out of the pot and leave the mixture to boil for only 3 minutes. Then you take the pot away from the hob and you dip the cold melomakarona in the hot syrup each one just for a half minute.
Finally, you drop the chopped walnuts on them in a beautiful Christmas plate.
That’s it, you are ready to enjoy your first Christmas Greek melomakarona !!
Merry Christmas from LEFKASEABNB Beach Resort
Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year especially for the children. For example, in Lefkada it is a period of Christmas bazaars at the main street and in the schools of the town. Also, in the cultural center they use to organize a big one where everyone is invited. Furthermore, an ice skating yard waits children of all ages at the central square of the town. Moreover, the philharmonic band plays Christmas carols in the main street of the town. Finally, many children and Santa Clauses follow the band’s parade.
But most of all, it is the spirit of Christmas which counts and offer us a big chance !!
In other words, we have a chance to change and become better for ourselves, for our families, for our societies and for our planet.
So, from LEFKASEABNB we wish you Merry Christmas with plenty of love, peace and joy to all of you. Especially our warmest wishes to our previous guests and to the ones who will follow next summer.
LEFKASEABNB. In other words, VACATIONS !!