Melomakarona (Greek Christmas Honey Cookies)

For the syrup:
Wash the orange and cut it in half. Put the orange halves in a large saucepan and add the water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves and lemon juice. Boil for 5 minutes. Take off heat and discard the orange halves. Stir in honey and set aside to cool. Then refrigerate.

For the dough:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a bowl, mix all-purpose flour with fine semolina flour and set aside.

In another bowl, whisk orange juice, vegetable oil, powdered sugar, ground clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, cogna or brandy (if using) and orange zest. Gently add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix by hand. Mix until just combined. Cover the dough and let it rest for about half an hour.

If you have a digital scale, take a piece of dough and weigh it. Each piece should be about 0.70 to 0.88 ounce. If you don’t have a digital scale, try and make each piece of dough the same size before baking.
Make each piece oval and thick. If you want, you can make a pattern on top using a closed scalloped crimper.

Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, about 1 inch apart, and bake for about 25–30 minutes until golden brown.

When cookies are done, take 7 to 10 of them and immediately dunk them into the cold syrup. Let them soak for about 40 seconds, flipping them over halfway through. Don’t soak them too long, though, because they’ll fall apart.

Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a serving platter. Repeat with remaining cookies.

Drizzle some honey over the cookies and top with the chopped walnuts. Enjoy!