Olive Oil and Honey Cookies

Makes 60 - 70 cookies

Ingredients:

3-4 cups all purpose flour 
1 ½ cup fine semolina 
1 ¾ cup olive oil (or half olive oil and half sunflower or canola oil)
1 cup fresh orange juice 
½ cup brandy 
1/3 cup sugar 
2 heap teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon ground cloves 
½ teaspoon cinnamon 
Grated rind of one orange and one lemon

For the syrup:

1 cup sugar 
1 cup honey 
2 cups water 
A large piece of orange peel 
A large piece of lemon peel
1 cup coarsely ground walnuts 
2 teaspoons finely ground cloves

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the olive oil with the sugar. Add the orange juice. In a separate bowl mix two cups of flour with the baking powder and add it to the oil and orange mixture. Beat with the electric mixer adding the brandy, semolina, orange and lemon rinds, cloves and cinnamon.
Turn the mixture to a floured surface start kneading, adding more flour, to obtain a soft and elastic dough. Let it stand for 29-30 minutes, covered with a plastic film.
Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Take table spoons of dough, roll them in your hands and shape them into oval biscuits, about two inches long. Press them slightly on the top. Place them on a cookie pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Let them cook on a rack.
The next day make the honey syrup: In a saucepan mix the sugar, honey and water and bring to a boil. Add the orange and lemon peels and simmer for a 5-10 minutes. Turn off the heat.
Place 2 or 3 cookies (melomakarona) on a large slotted spoon and dip them to the syrup. Don' t let them soak. They should absorb only a little syrup, but remain crunchy. As the syrup gets colder, you need to turn on the heat again for a while to bring to a boil. Place layers of honey dipped cookies (melomakarona) on a servicing dish, mix the walnuts with the ground cloves and sprinkle the cookies. Let them cool completely, before serving.

They keep well for 2-3 weeks.