Christmas & Easter Greek dessert ''Melomakarona''

Ingredients

2 cups. sunflower oil or corn oil or olive oil ½ cup. Orange juice ½ cup. cognac 1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg 1 tsp grated allspice (all spice) 1 tsp carnation crushed 2 tbs cinnamon 2 vanilla zest of 2 oranges and a lemon 1 tsp baking soda ½ cup. sugar 2 cups. fine semolina (St. George) (340 g) 4 - 4 ½ cups. soft flour sifted 2 tsp baking powder

Syrup 3 cups. sugar 1 ½ cup of honey 2 cups. water 2 cinnamon sticks 1 orange cut in two

Garnish

Walnuts or peanuts

Preparation

Melomakarona 1.In a large bowl mix the liquid with aromatic, dissolve the baking soda and sugar and add the semolina. Leave all night to absorb many fluids can (if we do not immediately take the flour would we think that needs more flour with the known effects ....) Then add 4 cups flour together with the baking.The dough should be soft, barely coined when remains a little bit to start get out the oil. If dough is tighter melomakarona will be hard and will not absorb the syrup. If you become very soft melomakarona will burst and dissolve.The ideal is to pit very little when baking. Usually they do not need the remaining half cup of flour. Calculate approximately 15-16 ml per melomakarono dough (1 tablespoon). Fool the eye and seem small but when baked swell and spread.

Then mold as cylindrical thick fingers as baked get a flatter shape. Place them on baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake at 175 ° C in air for 25 min.

Syrup

2.Put all the ingredients and let the syrup boil 2-3 minutes while the skim with a slotted spoon.Layer melomakarona in a couple of trays, close to one another. Pour over the boiling syrup (melomakarona are cold)of In about 3 minutes to turn upside down. Then turn twice and allow to cool upside down.Prepare the grated peanut or walnut and dip one by one melomakarona the nut to stick on them. So nuts occupy the melomakarono and not on the platter ...