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Greek recipes
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Melomakarona |
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Ingredients:
9 cups of plain flour, ½ cup orange juice, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ cup brandy, 1 teaspoon cooking soda, 1 tablespoon of mixed cinnamon with cloves, 3 cups oil (olive oil is better but even another oil could be
used), a pinch of salt, 1 cup of sugar. For the syrup: 3 cups
sugar, 3 cups honey, 3 cups water, cinnamon wood, lemon rind. |
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We mix oil,
brandy, orange juice, sugar and the mixture of cinnamon with
cloves. In a different bowl we mix flour with baking powder,
soda and salt. Then we mix slowly the two different mixtures
until we make a soft dough. We make like cookies but thicker
with our hands, usually in oval shape and we bake them in the
oven for 30 minutes at 175οC. In another pan we simmer honey,
with sugar, water, cinnamon wood and lemon rind. Remember to
take out the froth with a spoon from the boiling honey. When the
melomakarona become lukewarm, leave them inside the tray and
pour over the boiled mixture of honey. Sprinkle with roughly-cut
walnuts and cinnamon and let them get cold!
Melomakarona and
kourabiethes are eaten during the whole festive season, starting
just before Christmas until the Epiphany!
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Kourabiethes |
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2 cups filled with butter, 1 cup of roasted almonds roughly-cut, ½ cup caster sugar, vanilla powder (for essence), 4 cups (approximately) of plain flour |
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We mix the butter and the caster sugar very well. We add
vanilla, almonds and flour and we knead the mixture until all the ingredients
mix up really well. In case the mixture sticks in your hands add more flour. The
mixture is ready when it starts to “unstick” from your hands and it must be
neither stiff nor mushy!! We make some designs with our hands, usually
half-moons or even rounds (like cookies but very thick) and we bake in the oven
at 175°
(Celsius) for 30 minutes. They should not get much color just slightly brown.
After they get cold enough we dust (or better we cover them completely) with
caster sugar!! Enjoy your snowed Christmas sweets from Greece! |
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Vasilopita (Santa's
pie)
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There are a lot of recipes for Vasilopita. However, the most traditional uses
ingredients that there aren’t easy to find in a another country. So, it is
best to do what also many Greek people do. Make a regular cake, put a coin
inside before you bake it and when it’s ready write on the top the new year
that is coming (e.g. 2003) with caster sugar! When the new year comes we cut up
one piece for every member of the family, but the three first pieces is for
Christ, for Mother Mary and for the poor one. Then we continue to name each
piece before we cut it up (e.g. we say this is for father, then this is for
mother) usually we begin with the most elder person but always the family of the
house comes first and then the guests. Vasilopita has to be cut up all and not
leave any piece rest. So if there aren’t a lot of people the
pieces are bigger! Usually the cake it is baked in a round pan
and the pieces are usually triangles! The person who finds the
coin is the lucky person of the new year, and according to the
house’s habits perhaps there is a small gift waiting for him/her |
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