Melomakarona greek biscuits with spices

These traditional Greek spiced biscuits are soaked in honey syrup and sprinkled with chopped nuts.

Ingredients

• For filing:
• 150 g walnuts
• 100 g pistachios
• 1 tbsp. l. ground cinnamon
• dried rose petals
• For syrup:
• 1 glass of liquid honey
• 225 g sugar
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• a piece of orange peel (from a quarter of an orange)
• For the test:
• 500 g flour
• 125 ml light olive oil
• 115 g butter at room temperature
• 115 g icing sugar
• 60 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
• 60 ml cognac or brandy
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• a pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Make a syrup. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan, pour in 250 ml of water, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes, until the syrup thickens slightly. Be sure to remove the foam. Remove the cinnamon stick and orange zest from the syrup. Reduce heat to low and keep syrup warm until cookies are done.
2. For serving, finely chop pistachios and walnuts and mix with cinnamon.
3. Preheat oven to 170 ° C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
4. Place the olive oil, butter, icing sugar and all the spices in a mixer bowl and beat on high speed for 5 minutes.
5. In a bowl, combine the orange juice, brandy, baking powder and baking soda - the mixture will begin to foam. Add it to the butter mixture along with salt and orange zest and beat for 2 minutes.
6. Reduce mixer speed to minimum and gradually add flour (you may need a little more or a little less flour) until the dough forms a ball.
7. Roll the dough into balls the size of a walnut and place on baking trays a short distance from each other. Bake 25-30 minutes, until dark golden brown.
8. Remove the finished biscuits from the oven and transfer several cookies at once for 1-2 minutes. into boiling syrup, turning once so that they are evenly soaked.
9. Place the cookies on a platter, pour the remaining syrup over it and sprinkle with chopped nuts and cinnamon. Decorate with rose petals. Store at room temperature, covered with foil.