Melomakarona – traditional biscuits, from Greece, offered for Christmas.
Ingredients for 35-40 melomakarona:
Mixture 1
- 200 g orange juice
- 100 g sunflower oil
- 200 g olive oil
- 30 g sugar
- 1/4 tsp. to c. clove
- 1-2 tsp. to c. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. to c. nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. to c. sodium bicarbonate
- 1 zest of oranges
Mixture 2
- 500 gr of wheat flour (half white and half whole)
- 100 g fine semolina
For syrup
- 400 g of water
- 100 g whole sugar
- 300 g honey
- 2 sticks of cinnamon
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 orange cut in half
When serving
- Honey and nuts
For syrup:
Attention: make the syrup 3-4 hours before starting the recipe for melomakarona so that to be very cold at the exit of the biscuits from the oven. Put the ingredients of the syrup together to boil, except the honey. Once the syrup has started to boil, remove it from the heat and add the honey. Mix and let the syrup cool.
For biscuits:
Preheat the oven to 190 ° C (rotating heat). Then put all the ingredients of mixture 1 in a large bowl and mix them well. In a second bowl, mix the ingredients of mixture 2. Gather both mixtures in a single bowl and mix very gently with your hands or wooden spatula for a very short time (max 10 seconds) to avoid cutting the mixture. Take about 30 gr. of this paste in your hands and make it an oval shape of 3-4 cm in diameter. Try to give the same look to all melomakarona.
Cook for about 20-25 minutes. Dip the hot melomakarona in the cold syrup and leave for 10 to 15 seconds, then add honey and nuts on the biscuits to finalize the taste and the presentation.
Preparation and cooking time: 1h00-1h15
Nutritional value per 30gr biscuit:
- Energy 120 Kcal
- Protein 1,2gr
- Carbohydrates 15gr
- Fat 7gr
The advice of the specialist:
Dietician Christina Fodor advises you to replace ingredients with equivalents on recipes in order to obtain a better nutritional quality, maintaining the taste and the pleasure. For example, it can be replaced half of the sugar with whole sugar and honey, half of the sunflower oil with olive oil, the white wheat flour with whole flour, the butter with the margarine etc. She advises, also, to use organic products.
The dietitian says that the secret, to maintain the body weight during Christmas, is the quantity. She proposes to pay attention to the portions, that means the quantity and the frequency of consumption. Smaller pieces contain half the calories of entire serving.
