*.*GO GREEK*.*

My mom's aunt, AKA my unofficial grandmother was over yesterday so we spent some time together, which was nice :)

I had promised I would make here these Greek cookies called Finikia. The texture is a mix of flour and farina (cream of wheat) which is soaked in sweet syrup after baking. They are a far cry from your traditional American cookies, but sometimes, change is good! These delightful cookies are usually made during Christmas.

I sort of created my own recipe. I used a recipe for the actual cookie from Food.com and the syrup recipe from Allrecipes.com.

Get the recipe and more pics after the jump!

Finikia:

• 3/4 cup light olive oil or 3/4 cup corn oil ( I used 1/4 c olive oil and 1/4 c corn oil)
• 1/4 cup butter, at room temperature ( I used 1/2 c butter)
• 1/2 cup beer (or more) or 1/2 cup orange juice (or more) (I used orange juice)
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon 
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 oranges, zest of, grated (I used 2 tsp lemon extract)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup fine ground semolina (cream of wheat or farina)
• 3 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Put the corn oil, butter, orange juice, cinnamon, cloves, orange peel (or lemon extract) and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until they are thoroughly blended.

Sift about one cup of flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt and blend into the oil mixture.

Add the semolina into this mixture.

Add enough of the remaining flour, a cup at a time, until you get a rather firm dough (you may need a bit more or less than the amount of flour mentioned in the ingredients list).

Use your hands to do the mixing, as an electric mixer will be useless after the first two or three cups of flour have been added.

Roll the dough into cylinders, about two inches long and one inch in diameter, flatten them with your hands, and place them on cookie sheets that have been greased with a little olive oil.

Bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit for half an hour. 

Finikia Syrup:

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup honey

1 cinnamon stick

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine the water, white sugar, honey, cinnamon stick and lemon juice.

Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick. 

While the mixture is boiling hot, dip the cookies in one at a time, making sure to cover them completely. 

Place them on a wire rack to dry and sprinkle with walnuts. ( I placed them in a round Pyrex)

Keep finished cookies in a sealed container at room temperature.  

*I dipped the cookies in the hot syrup about two minutes after taking them out of the oven.

Links to original recipes:

Finikia AKA Melomakarona Cookies

Finikia Syrup