Greek honey cookies, or melomakarona, are a soft, delightfully sweet, egg-shaped cookie. Make this recipe for the best Greek Christmas cookies!

There are some amazing foods in Greek cuisine, especially for holiday celebrations.
Foods like fried squash patties (kolokithokeftedes), flaming saganaki cheese, and feta salad are all fantastic holiday appetizers in Greece.

For dinner, traditional favorites include soutzoukakia meatballs, and a layered pasta dish called pasticcio. For dessert, Greek baklava or baklava rolls (saragli) are a must.

If you happen to visit Greece in December, be sure to stop by a local bakery. You’ll have an opportunity to taste what could very well be the best Greek cookies ever! The baked honey-sweetened treat is perfect for a platter of Christmas cookies!

Greek Melomakarona

Cuisine: Mediterranean / Greek

The word melomakarona is a combination of two Greek words; meli, which means honey, and makarona, from the ancient word, makaria, which means blessed.

Alternate names/spellings: 
Greek honey cookies, melomakaron, melomakariona, finikia

Pronunciation:
may-LOH-ma-KAY-ronah
fih-KNEE-kya

Course:
Dessert

Preparation:
baked or fried

Difficulty: Medium 🥄🥄

Description:
Egg-shaped Greek honey cookies, either baked or fried, covered in flavored sugar syrup. Often garnished on top with crushed nuts.

Melomakarona vs Finikia

Both of these Greek honey cookies have nearly identical ingredients. Although the names are interchangeable, the difference truly lies in the way they’re cooked. Melomakarona cookies are always baked, while finikia are sometimes fried.

This recipe is for the baked version of the Greek cookies.

Ingredient notes for Greek honey cookies

There are two components to this recipe; the sugar syrup and the dough.

Sugar syrup

The syrup provides the melomakarona with flavor and moisture, which creates a soft, craveable cookie. Traditional flavorings are clove, cinnamon, and orange.

Cookie dough

• Semolina flour– This coarse, pale yellow flour is made from durum wheat, the product used to make pasta and couscous.
  
  Semolina flour is very high in protein, so it’s also a good product to use in cakes and cookies.

🛒Shopping tip:

Be sure to buy fine grain semolina flour. There other grind is coarse, which is great for pasta, but gives cookies a rougher texture.

Unless you bake a lot of melomakarona cookies, you’ll likely have some semolina flour left over.

You could use it to make a Middle Eastern date-filled semolina cookie called maamoul. They’re also fantastic for a Christmas cookie platter!

• Nuts– An optional ingredient, crushed nuts add a nice crunch factor to the tops of each cookie. I use crushed walnuts. Peanuts and pecans are good options, too.

Making melomakarona

You’ll need to start by making the sugar syrup first. The reason is, the syrup must be cool to properly soak into the warm cookies.

It doesn’t have to be completely cold, but be sure it’s at least room temperature. By the time you’ve made the dough and baked your first batch of the honey cookies, the syrup should be ready to use.

🏃‍♀️In a hurry?
Feel free to chill the syrup in the fridge while preparing the melomakarona dough.

Shaping the dough

It’s very important not to work the melomakarona dough too much, because this can lead to tough cookies. You want them to have soft, melt-in-your-mouth consistency.

Start by scooping out a walnut-sized piece of dough. This is roughly 2 tablespoons, or 1 ounce.

Using your hands, gently form the cookie dough into an egg shape. Next, use the tines of a fork to poke holes in the top of each of the honey cookies.

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Recipe notes

• Only poke the tines half way down through the dough. The syrup will soak in and help the cookies become moist and tender inside.

• Sticky dough
  Your melomakarona dough should not be overly dry, so a bit of stickiness is to be expected.
  
  If it sticks to your hands too much, you can lightly flour your hands before you shape the dough, but avoid doing this if possible.

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