These cookies are traditional holiday cookies. They are very sweet and syrupy. I have lessend the amount of sugar content significantly from the original recipe. And most of the sugar now comes from the syrup and not from the cookie dough. I would not omit any more sugar from the recipe, I cannot guarantee the result.
However, you can decide to apply less syrup or just sprinkle with hone,y or powdered sugar instead of dunking them in the syrup. which is the traditional way.
Important tip:
The syrup must be completely cool when the cookies come out of the oven. When dunking the cookie in the syrup, the cookie should still be hot and the syrup cold. This step ensures a crunchy and syrupy bite and not one that is soggy. You can also reverse the process. Cold cookie to hot syrup.
Don’t forget the chopped walnuts and honey drizzle too! Enjoy!
Ingredients:
For the syrup:
500g water
500g granulated Cane sugar
150g honey
5 stick(s) cinnamon
3 whole cloves
1 orange, quartered
Dry Ingredient mixture:
1 kilo all-purpose flour. I prefer a hard flour such as Spelt or whole wheat.
200g semolina
Wet ingredient mixture:
400g orange juice
400g grapeseed oil
180g olive oil
25g icing sugar
1/2 tsp ground cloves
3-4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
orange zest, of 3 oranges
For serving: Honey and roasted chopped walnuts.
Method:
For the syrup:
Place all of the ingredients for the syrup (except for the honey) in a cooking pot, and heat it on medium heat just until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add the honey and mix until combined.
Place the syrup in another container and allow it to cool for 2-3 hours at room temperature. It must be cold or room temperature by the time the cookies come out of the oven. You can also prepare the syrup the day before.
For the cookies:
Preheat the oven to 190* C (370*F) and set it to fan.
To make the cookies, you need to prepare the dry and wet ingredients separately.
For the first mixture which is the dry, add all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until incorporated.
In a separate bowl, add all of the wet ingredients listed, and mix with a hand whisk.
Combine the dry and and wet mixture together. And do not over knead or the oil will seep out!
Mix by hand, very gently and not more than 10 seconds, or so. The longer you mix your dough, it will curdle or split, making it unuseable.
Mold cookie dough into oval shapes, around 3 cm in length, or 30 g each.
Try to maintain an even size and shape to ensure proper baking.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until they are crunchy and golden brown.
As soon as you remove them from the oven, soak the hot cookies in the cold syrup for 10 seconds with a slotted spoon.
Allow them to drain on a wire rack. And lastly Drizzle with honey and chopped roasted walnuts.
