The season that both young and old eagerly await is approaching!! It's time for the house to be filled with aromas and beautiful memories for the whole family! The holidays are coming, the mood is rising, and the appetite is opening! 

The 2 biggest ambassadors of the Christmas table are none other than melomakarona and kourabiedes! The dilemma is great and everyone chooses a side! Because without sweets and especially melomakarona, Christmas just isn't the same!

Etymologically, the word comes from the ancient Greek "makaria", a type of semi-sweet pie in an oval shape, similar to a large modern melomakarono, which was served at funeral dinners to honor the memory of the deceased, to bless the dead during the Middle Ages. Over the years, when the makaria was drenched in honey syrup it was called: honey+makaria = melomakarono and it became established as a Twelve Days of Christmas treat, mainly by the Greeks of Asia Minor.

Today, we can enjoy this sweet treat and savor all its nutritional benefits, since it contains olive oil – the most important ingredient in the nutritional pyramid of Mediterranean cuisine - and honey - with antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. 

Below we will see two easy recipes for children and adults to make! So we will need a smile, Christmas songs, and we begin making the traditional melomakarona and the melomakarona with semolina that will melt on our palate!

Preparation method

• Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
• Add the spices to the mixture.
• In another bowl, mix the olive oil with the sugar and beat well until the sugar dissolves.
• Dissolve the baking soda in the orange juice and pour it into the oil.
• Add the brandy, orange zest, and ground walnuts.
• Gradually add the sifted ingredients.
• Begin kneading gently by hand without force.
• The dough should be soft and fairly oily.
• Shape them and pass them over a grater to create holes so they can absorb the syrup better and soak up enough honey.
• Place them on a baking tray, spaced apart from one another.
• Bake in a well-preheated oven for about 25 minutes at 180°C, until golden brown.
• Let them cool completely.

For the syrup:

• Boil all the ingredients over medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Keep the syrup over low heat and, little by little, add the pastries cold and soak them in the syrup.
• Arrange them on a serving platter and sprinkle with ground walnuts. If desired - optional - add a little more cinnamon.

Preparation method

• Whisk the oil with the sugar.
• As soon as the sugar dissolves, add the brandy, the zest and the spices. 
• Add the soda to the juice and mix everything together.
• Gradually add the flour and then the semolina.
• Knead gently by hand without force.
• Shape them and pass them through a grater to create holes so that the syrup is absorbed better and enough honey is absorbed.
• Place them at a distance from each other on a baking tray.
• Bake in a well preheated oven for about 25 minutes at 180°C, until golden brown.
• Let them cool well.

For the syrup: 

• Boil all the ingredients over medium heat for 3-4 minutes.
• Keep the syrup over low heat and add the pastries cold, a few at a time, for 1' on each side.
• Arrange them on a platter and sprinkle with the ground walnuts. If desired - optionally - add a little more cinnamon.

Essential Materials

To create the dessert that will delight the entire family and the office, make sure to procure high-quality raw materials. The right result requires good ingredients, love, and passion! Here you will find everything you need to 'create wonders' without having to stand in checkout lines and lose the festive spirit!

Beyond taste, imagination is also needed to 'decorate' a platter that will adorn the dining room of our home. Colors make an impression! Red, green, gold, blue, and silver are the main Christmas colors that steal the show, right after the melomakarona of course! So, we stock up on plates, decorations in our favorite color, and chocolates to set up the sweets of our dreams! If we wish to gift a composition with our own sweets, we wrap it with Christmas cellophane all around as packaging.

Little Secrets

• Our dough should be soft and tender. We don't knead it like bread, so there's no need for a kitchen machine, just a simple whisk.
• We need to make a few holes with a fork or our grater in the dough we've shaped to ensure the honey is well absorbed.
• It's important to remember that the melomakarona need to cool completely before we syrup them.
• If we want to make a double batch for next time, we store them in a bowl and simply warm up the syrup or make it from scratch, so we never run out of fresh melomakarona!