Even those who throughout the rest of the year resist eating sweets, at this time they usually “go astray”. And not without reason, since now is the season when most of our favorite sweets are all around us. So if this year you decided not to buy your favorite sweets and give your creative side a chance, here you will see our favorite classic Christmas recipes.

Christmas recipes made by three famous Greek chefs, so that you have no doubts about the perfect result. And so that you don’t even get into the dilemma of “kourabies or melomakarono” here you will see the perfect recipe for each of them!

  • Kourabiedes, by Akis Petretzikis

Materials:

  • 500 grams of butter, at room temperature
  • 220 grams of powdered sugar
  • 1 vanillin
  • 1 teaspoon flower water
  • 30 grams of bitter almond liqueur, or cognac or rum
  • 200-280 grams almond fillets, or coarsely chopped, unsalted and roasted
  • 900 grams of all-purpose flour
  • 1 pinch of salt

For the composition:

  • 1 tablespoon of flower water 300 grams of powdered sugar

Implementation:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees in the air. Put the butter, powdered sugar in the mixer bowl and beat at high speed with the paddle attachment for 10-15 minutes until the mixture becomes foamy and white. Add the vanilla powder, flower water, bitter almond liqueur and continue to beat. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Crush the almond with your hands to make it a crumb and put it in a bowl. Add the flour, salt and put it in the mixer bowl. Stir the mixture with a spoon, very gently so that the volume of the mixture does not fall. Once the ingredients are homogenized, mix with your hands. Form balls of 30 grams each and transfer them to a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Press lightly in the center with your finger and bake for 20-25 minutes. Follow the same process for the entire mixture. Put a layer of the kourabiedes on the serving plate, spray with flower water and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Follow the same process for all the kourabies and serve.

  • Melomakarona, from Argyro Barbarigou
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Materials:

  • 240 grams of sunflower or corn oil
  • 240 grams of light olive oil
  • 50 grams of cognac
  • 160 grams of fresh orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon sharp baking soda
  • 200 grams of fine granulated sugar
  • 1 sharp teaspoon of cloves
  • 2 sharp teaspoons of cinnamon
  • zest of 2 whole oranges
  • 900 grams of all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder

For the syrup:

  • 400 grams of sugar
  • 400 grams of water
  • 400 grams of thyme honey
  • ½ lemon (waxed)
  • ground pistachio or walnut

Implementation:

First sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Put them aside. In another bowl, put the olive oil, sunflower oil, cognac, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, orange zest. With a wire, he mixed them well to dissolve and melt the sugar. Dissolve the baking soda in the juice, stir and pour it into the mixture. Stir with the whisk. Finally pour in the flour gradually and mix with the wire gently to get the mixture. You don’t knead the mixture for too long if you want them to come out fluffy so they can absorb the syrup properly. The dough for honey macaroni should be fluffy, oily and soft. If you have time, leave the dough covered for 15 minutes on the counter. The longer it rests, the better they are shaped afterwards. Take a piece of dough the size of a walnut and start shaping them. You place them in the pan thinly between them. Lightly press their surface with a fork and make patterns and holes. This will help them absorb the syrup properly after they are baked. After shaping the first two pans, you put them in the oven. Bake in a well preheated oven in the air for about 25′ at 160 ºC. They are ready when they are well browned and crispy. After all, their smell will blow your nose. Then you’ll know they’re ready. You let them cool well.

For the syrup

Put the honey and the rest of the ingredients in a pot and from the time they start boiling, boil for 3 minutes. Skim the foam that forms on the surface of the syrup. After boiling the syrup, leave it at a low temperature. The kitchen light should be on 1 or 2, just enough for the syrup to vibrate and simmer. Dip them in the syrup a little at a time and leave them for about 20 seconds on each side. So they form properly, remain honeyed and fluffy and dissolve in the mouth without being heavy, hard and dripping with syrup. If you want them more syrupy, spread them all close together on a baking sheet and slowly pour the syrup over them. Let them absorb the syrup and water well. After you syrup them, while they are still warm, sprinkle them with chopped pistachios or walnuts.

  • Side by side, by Stelios Parliaros

Materials:

  • 200 grams of milk
  • 200 grams of orange juice
  • 200 grams of olive oil
  • 200 grams of powdered sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1300 grams of flour
  • 1 orange, its zest
  • 1.5 teaspoon of baking soda
  • oil for frying

Syrup

  • 500 grams of sugar
  • 500 grams of water

Garnish

  • grated walnuts for sprinkling
  • honey

Implementation:

  1. First prepare the syrup to cool. In a pot, boil the sugar with the water for 2 minutes (from when it starts boiling).
  2. Beat the milk, orange juice, olive oil and powdered sugar in the mixer with the dough hook. Add the eggs, flour and zest along with the soda. Knead until they become an elastic dough. (You can also knead the ingredients by hand).
  3. Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes and with a rolling pin roll it out into a thin sheet 3 millimeters thick. Cut strips or squares with a knife and fry in hot oil over medium heat. Using a slotted spoon, fold the edges inwards during frying. Remove the doublets on absorbent paper. When they are drained, dip them in the cold syrup and serve them on a plate. Garnish them with honey and walnuts.