Chocolate Honey Cookies (Melomakarona)

Ingredients
For The Syrup:
300 grams (10.6 oz) honey
300 grams (1 + ½ cup ) sugar
300 ml water
1 orange peel
1 stick of cinnamon
For The Cookies:
240 ml olive oil
80 ml orange juice fresh
1 orange zested
100 grams (½ cup) sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
⅓ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons brandy
1 teaspoon baking powder
425 grams (3 +½ cup) all-purpose flour
50 grams (5 tablespoons) fine semolina

For The Chocolate Coating:
400 grams (14 oz) bakers chocolate or dark chocolate 70% cocoa
1 + ½ tablespoon olive oil
ground walnuts (or any other type of nut you prefer)

Instructions
For The Syrup:
Start by making the syrup so it will have time to cool down to room temperature by the time the cookies are baked and ready.
Add all of the ingredients for the syrup in a medium-sized saucepan and heat over high heat. Once it starts to boil reduce heat to medium. Skim off any dark foam that forms on the surface because of the honey. Let the syrup simmer without stirring for about 6-7 minutes. Then turn the heat off and set the saucepan aside to cool down to room temperature.

For The Cookies:
For The Cookies:
In a mixing bowl, add the olive oil, orange juice, sugar, and spices. Stir well with a hand whisk for the sugar to dissolve. In a separate bowl, a small one, add the brandy and soda and stir to dissolve. Then pour this in the bowl with the other ingredients.
Add the semolina as well, and whisk for everything to combine thoroughly.
In a different bowl mix together the flour and baking powder. Then start to incorporate it into the mixture as well. At this point, you will need to do the mixing by hand.
Once all the flour is incorporated into the mixture, you should end up with a soft dough that doesn’t stick on your hands. If it still leaves fragments on your hands add a little bit more flour.
Preheat oven to 180°C / 356°F.
Lay a piece of parchment paper on a baking tray.
Take small pieces of the dough (about 1 tablespoon) and squeeze in your palms to remove any air from within the dough. Shape into a round ball, and then give that ball an oval, egg shape. Press it a bit flatten it.
Proceed on making cookies like these and lay them on the baking tray leaving some space in between.

Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes. Or until they get a very light brown color all over.
Dip the cookies in batches in the syrup (that has reached room temperature) right as they get out of the oven. They need to be really hot in order to absorb the syrup properly and get nice and soft. Give them a few turns inside the syrup (using two forks to help you out) until they feel soft when you press them between your fingers.
Transfer cookies on a cooling rack to drain excess syrup. Let the cookies reach room temperature before coating them with chocolate.

For The Chocolate Coating:
If using baker’s chocolate cut it into as small pieces as possible. Place in a small bowl. Half fill a small saucepan with water. Heat the water in the saucepan over low heat. Don’t let the water get to a simmer. Place the bowl containing the chocolate over the saucepan making sure that it doesn’t touch the water. And melt the chocolate this way. Stir with a silicone spatula scraping the walls of the bowl thoroughly.
Once the chocolate has melted, stir in the olive oil.
Dip each cookie in the chocolate and then using a fork carefully transfer it on a piece of parchment paper.
Do this for the remaining cookies. Sprinkle the cookies with ground walnuts, or any other type of nut you prefer while the chocolate is still warm.
Let the chocolate coating cool and then transfer the cookies on a plate and keep them in your fridge. They will keep for up to a month.

Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 319kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 28mg | Potassium: 56mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 10IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg