Name: Greek Honey Cakes
Total time: 1 h 35 min
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: 2 1/4 cups (11¼ ounces/319 grams) all-purpose flour; 3/4 teaspoon baking soda; 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves; 1 1/2 cups (10½ ounces/298 grams) sugar; 1 tablespoon grated orange zest plus ½ cup juice; 3/4 cup olive oil; 3/4 cup water; 1/2 cup honey; 1/2 cup walnuts , toasted and chopped fine

Why This Recipe Works

Called melomakarona, these moist, oval-shaped Greek cookies are soaked in a floral honey syrup, and are made without egg for a sturdy, biscuit-like texture that holds up well to their honey dip. The dough combines bright orange juice and zest with the warm spice of cinnamon and cloves, for a comfortingly familiar flavor combination typical of many Greek sweets. Another Mediterranean ingredient that makes these cookies unique: olive oil, which we simply blended with sugar in the food processor before mixing in the remaining dry ingredients by hand—no cutting, creaming, or melting of butter required. After carefully submerging the egg-shaped cookies in honey syrup so they were fully soaked—but not soggy—we decided to give them a decorative finish of chopped toasted walnuts. But the surface of the cookies wasn't tacky enough to allow the walnuts to adhere, so we mixed the walnuts with some soaking syrup to help them stay put. Adding some cinnamon to the nut-syrup mixture underscored the spice flavor of these fragrant cookies.

Instructions

Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, baking soda, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, salt, and cloves together in large bowl. Process ½ cup sugar and orange zest in food processor until moist and fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add oil and orange juice and process until slightly thickened, about 45 seconds. Transfer sugar mixture to bowl with flour mixture and stir together until dough forms. Working with 1 tablespoon dough at a time, roll into ovals and space them 1½ inches apart on prepared sheets. Bake until light golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring water, honey, and remaining 1 cup sugar to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to dissolve sugar. Remove saucepan from heat and let syrup cool slightly. Combine walnuts, 3 tablespoons syrup, and remaining ¼ teaspoon cinnamon in small bowl. Working in batches, drop cookies into warm syrup in saucepan for about 1 minute, gently flipping them halfway through soaking. Transfer cookies to wire rack and top each with ½ teaspoon walnut mixture. Let cookies cool completely before serving.