Greek Melomakarona Cookie

A melomakarona is a traditional Greek Christmas cookie. Also known as Christmas honey cookies or Cypriot melomakarona cookies, these sweet and delicious cookies are one of the favourite traditional Christmas sweets in Cyprus.
Here’s the recipe for about 20 cookies:

Ingredients 
½ cup sunflower oil
50 grams (¼ cup) sugar
225 grams (1 cup) flour
A pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Juice and grated rind of ½ orange
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons brandy
1 ½ cups walnuts + extra for decorating
For the syrup:
100 grams (½ cup) sugar
1 cup honey
1 cup water

Directions to make:
Preheat the oven to 165°C / 325°F. Whisk the sunflower oil with the sugar. In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon well. After finely chopping the walnuts, mix the orange juice and rind with the baking soda and the brandy. The mixture will start foaming. Mix in the nuts. Whisk in the oil mixture and add the walnuts to make soft dough. Form little egg shaped balls of about 25 grams (about the size of a walnut) and place on a cookie sheet covered with baking paper. Bake in the middle of the oven for 15-20 minutes until light brown and done.

Make the syrup
Meanwhile make the syrup. Bring all the ingredients for the syrup to the boil. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to boil gently for about 10 minutes.

Dip and decorate
Take the cookies from the oven and dip them in the syrup for about 5 minutes. Turn them halfway. Take from the syrup and leave to drip on a rack. Decorate with the remaining chopped walnuts.