Melomakarona (honey christmas cookies) during an economic crisis!!

Recipe to survive an economic crisis.

One dose hard work
one dose support from community, friends, family
another dose of humour
big dose of anti-consumerism
a big dose of imagination
an even bigger dose of humour

and for the cooks or wanna be cooks reading this blog..don't buy..COOK!!

Get the kids involved, your house will smell amazing and you will save lots of money, and to top it all off you will be left with a sense of pride, joy, and a sneaky sense of  " If I'm going to go down.... I'm going to go down fighting"....So smile my dear friends and take things literally in your own hands.

After doing some market research here in Maroussi I realized that "melomakarona" are sold for 14-15 euros a kilo..outrageous in my opinion, so I decided to look for the best recipe and start cooking. This is my favorite..and of couse its my recipe. Try it, your house will be filled with an incredible and unforgetable aroma of cinnamon and sugar and spice and everything nice.. Here goes...!!

Melomakarona (honey christmas cookies)

ingredients

2 cups corn oil

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup fresh orange juice

1/4 cup mixture of black rum and cognac

7 cups all purpose flour

1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon plus 1 teaspoon ground cloves
zest from two oranges
1cup coarsely crushed walnuts

sirop
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1 cup honey
1 cinnamon stick
10 cloves
1/2 orange with peel

steps:

mix the oil and sugar until sugar is diluted well
add the cinnamon and clove
stir the soda in the orange juice and add to the mixture (be careful it erupts like a volcanoe..hahaha)
sift flour, mix baking powder and soda in the flour mixture and add to the liquid mixture
add zest
knead just until all the ingredients are incorporated and the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl

form oval shaped cookies and make small holes on the tops with a fork
place non-stick parchment paper on a cookie sheet and place cookies leaving some space between the cookies to allow for any expansion

cook at 180c for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool.

Make the sirup by placing 2 cups sugar, 2cups water, 1 cup honey in a pot. Add one cinnamon stick, 10 whole cloves, and 1/2 orange (with peel) with the cut side facing the bottom of the pot. Please use oranges that are from biological farms and of course still wash the orange very well before you place it in your sirup.

Allow the mixture to boil for 5minutes . When the sirup is ready lower the heat to the lowest setting only to keep the sirup warm and place cookies about 4 at a time in the sirup. Count for about 10 seconds on each side remove and allow to cool. Sprinkle the walnuts over the cookies..and do not..repeat DO NOT think of your diet.

Merry Christmas my dear friends and remember ...be good every day of the year!!