MELOMACARONA - Traditional Greek Christmas cookies soaked in honey syrup.

INGREDIENTS (makes about 40 pieces)

400 ml olive oil
120 g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
250 ml beer
4 ml ground cinnamon
1 ml ground cloves
orange peel (use the grated peel of one orange)
200 g sugar
350 g finely ground semolina
600 g flour
2.5 ml baking soda
2.5 ml baking powder
5 ml salt
300 g sugar (for the syrup)
500 g honey
250 ml water
60 g chopped walnuts

PROCEDURE
(1) Put the olive oil, butter, beer, cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until they are thoroughly blended.
(2) Sift about one cup of flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt, and blend into the mixture.
(3) Add the semolina, a cup at a time, into the mixture.
(4) Add the enough of the remaining flour, a cup at a time, until you get a rather firm dough (you may need a bit more or less than the amount mentioned in the ingredients list). Use your hands to do the mixing, as an electric mixer will be useless after the first two or three cups of flour have been added.
(5) Roll the dough into cylinders, about 5 cm long and 2 -3 cm in diameter, flatten them with your hands, and place them on cookie sheets greased with a little olive oil. Bake at 175 deg. C for half a hour.
(6) Remove the cookies from the oven, and let them cool for about half an hour.
(7) Make the syrup: mix the sugar, honey and water, and bring them to a boil. Cook on low heat for three minutes and skim off the foam that forms on top.
(8) Pour the hot syrup over the cookies, sprinkle them with the chopped walnuts and let them soak overnight.