Finikia (Greek syrupy cookies)
Finikia are a variation of the classic melomakarona that are made in different versions, in many Greek islands and have their roots in Asia Minor. It is a traditional Christmas sweet, which is ideal for the fasting of Christmas. According to the Mount Athos tradition, during Christmas fasting, there is olive oil catalysis only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends, so these finikia are a good choice for dessert on Mount Athos on these days. Read below an authentic monastic recipe for syrupy finikia which are very easy to prepare.
We start with the syrup so that it has time to cool.
We boil the water with the sugar for a few minutes, the we remove from the heat and add the honey.
We dissolve the soda in the orange juice.
In a large bowl, we beat the sugar with the olive oil and the corn oil with a whisk or mixer.
Then, we add the orange juice mixture, cinnamon, lemon zest and nuts and mix.
We slowly pour into our mixture as much flour as is needed to have a soft dough and knead for a while with our hands.
We shape the dough into long, narrow sticks and cut them diagonally with a knife.
We put the finikia in an oiled pan and bake them in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about half an hour.
When they are ready, we pour the cold syrup on the hot finikia, so that they absorb all the syrup.
We nail each finiki with a clove and sprinkle with walnuts.
We don't knead the dough too much because the finikia will harden.
We sieve the flour for a better result.
Preferably, we bake in the air. If we don't have air, we bake on the resistances by placing our pan it the lowest position.
