Moustokouloura (Grape Molasses Cookies)

More baking adventures...

I made 1/4 of the original recipe (the original recipe is below), which produced 8 ~2" cookies.  The smaller quantity might be why my oil and sugar mixture hardened so quickly.  I also added a light glaze to the rather plain cookies.  Full recipe yields 25-30 cookies.


1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of grape molasses (petimezi)
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of brandy
1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
6 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).  Dissolve baking soda in the brandy.  Whisk together the flour and baking powder.  Combine oil, grape molasses, and sugar in a saucepan, stir well, and boil for several minutes until completely blended. 

 

  

Transfer to a mixing bowl, and stir in brandy (with dissolved baking soda), orange juice, cinnamon and cloves.  Add flour mixture slowly; combine thoroughly.

 

 

 

Using pieces of dough, pat into thick cookies (about 1/2 inches high) in round or oval shapes.

 

 

 

Place on cookie sheets and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 minutes. Cooking time will vary slightly depending on the size of the cookies.

 

These directions are all messed up.  Boiling the sugar mixture made it turn hard and it fully separated from the oil.  Seems unnecessary.  What if they were made in the usual way (sift dry ingredients, blend wet ingredients, combine, or follow the directions in the alternative recipe, below)?

Conclusion:  They turned out dense, tough and bready, but actually had a nice flavor.  Not very sweet.  Very much like gingerbread, and they improved overnight.  Would benefit from some currants, and perhaps a drizzle of glaze (maybe chocolate).   Also, some texture would be good -- maybe half whole wheat flour, wheat bran, or semolina. 

Recipe:  Greek Grape Molasses Cookies (Moustokouloura) (Grape Molasses Cookies) via About.com Greek Food (the Spruce Eats)

 

 

Another recipe option to try:

Moustokouloura (Μουστοκούλουρα) via Organically Cooked from Traditional Cretan Cooking by Nikos
Psilakis (co-author)

1 cup of grape must
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of oil
1 shot glass of brandy
3/4 cup of natural orange juice
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground cloves
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 kilo (8 cups) of all-purpose flour

Mix all the liquids together. Add all the remaining ingredients, except the flour, and mix well. Add the flour and mix it in quickly to get a soft pliable dough. The classic shape of the cookie is a round one with a hole in the middle (kind of like a doughnut), but you can also make finger-shaped cookies. The baking sheet does not need to be greased. Cook in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes; the cookies will turn golden brown, depending on the colour of the grape must, but they should not be overcooked.

Or this one from My Little Backyard Lemon Tree.