Melomacarona

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Title: Melomacarona
Categories: Cookies, Greek, Christmas
Yield: 40 servings

1 1/2 c Olive oil
1/2 c Butter, unsalted
-(at room temperature)
1 c Beer
3/4 ts Cinnamon, ground
1/4 ts Ground cloves,
-ground
Orange peel (use the
-grated peel of one orange)
1 c Sugar
2.00 c semolina, finely
-ground
6.00 c flour
1/2 ts Baking soda
0.50 ts baking powder
1.00 ts salt
1.50 c sugar (for the
-syrup)
1 1/2 c Honey
1 c Water
0.50 c walnuts, chopped

Put the olive oil, butter, beer, cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and
sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until they are thoroughly blended.

Sift about one cup of flour with the baking soda, baking powder and
salt and blend into the mixture. Add the semolina, a cup at a time,
into the mixture.

Add the enough of the remaining flour, a cup at a time, until you get
a rather firm dough (you may need a bit more or less than the amount
mentioned in the ingredients list). Use your hands to do the mixing,
as an electric mixer will be useless after the first two or three C
of flour have been added.

Roll the dough into cylinders, about two inches long and one inch in
diameter, flatten them with your hands, and place them on cookie
sheets greased with a little olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees F. for
half an hour. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for
about half an hour.

Make the syrup: mix the sugar, honey and water, and bring them to a
boil. Cook on low heat for three minutes and skim off the foam that
forms on top. Pour the hot syrup over the cookies, sprinkle them with
the chopped walnuts and let them soak overnight.

NOTES:

* Traditional greek Christmas cookies soaked in honey syrup -- This
is one of the two kinds of confection that are traditionally consumed
in large quantities in Greece during the holiday season (the other is
kourabiedes). I suppose the name translates to something like "honey
macaroons", except that they are not really macaroons. I got the
recipe from a greek cookbook.

* You can use flour instead of semolina, but only as a last resort,
as you won't be able to get that wonderful grainy texture which you
get if you use semolina.

* The amounts given here are for only half a recipe. Considering
that it is very hard to eat only one melomacarono, making the full
recipe may not be as outrageous as it sounds!

Difficulty: Easy to moderate.
Time: 30 minutes preparation, 30 minutes baking, 30 minutes
cooling, overnight soaking.
Precision: approximate measurement OK.

Kriton Kyrimis
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
princeton!kyrimis kyrimis@princeton.edu

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