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Athena Anastasiadou from Nafpaktos, greece

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Athena Anastasiadou from Nafpaktos, greece

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My mum comes from an Aegean Island called Lemnos. I remember myself running into the house on the day she made it when I was little. I still carry this smell of christmas along.. Christmas on a platter, drizzled with honey syrup and topped with chopped walnuts! Diples get their name from the Greek word for “fold” and are a traditional festive dessert that is very popular around Christmas time throughout Greece. They are rather challenging to make, so we also included an easier version for you to make because you have to give it a go!

Ingredients

2 flat tbsps sugar

2 flat tbsps baking soda

350-400g all-purpose flour (12-14 ounces)

5 eggs (divided into yolks and whites)

juice of 1 lemon

juice of 1 orange

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1/2 cup corn oil

a pinch of salt

vegetable oil for frying

For the syrup

1/4 of a cup sugar

1/4 of a cup water

1/2 cup honey

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 cinnamon stick

150g chopped walnuts, for garnish (5 ounces)

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Christmas on a platter, drizzled with honey syrup and topped with chopped walnuts! Diples get their name from the Greek word for "fold" and are a traditional festive dessert that is very popular around Christmas time throughout Greece. They are rather challenging to make, so we also included an easier version for you to make because you have to give it a go!

Ingredients

2 flat tbsps sugar

2 flat tbsps baking soda

350-400g all-purpose flour (12-14 ounces)

5 eggs (divided into yolks and whites)

juice of 1 lemon

juice of 1 orange

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1/2 cup corn oil

a pinch of salt

vegetable oil for frying

For the syrup

1/4 of a cup sugar

1/4 of a cup water

1/2 cup honey

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 cinnamon stick

150g chopped walnuts, for garnish (5 ounces)

Instructions

1. Place the egg whites into the bowl of the electric mixer, along with a pinch of salt. Make sure your egg whites, bowl and whisk attachments are clean and free of any water. Whisk the egg whites until the mixture is very thick and glossy and a long trailing peak forms when the whisk is lifted (meringues).

2. Add the egg yolks one at a time, whilst mixing; wait for each one to be absorbed, before adding another. In a cup add the orange and lemon juice and baking soda and blend, until dissolved and pour in the egg mixture. Add the white wine vinegar and the sugar and mix.

3. Pour the mixture in a large bowl or basin and sift in the flour; add the oil and knead the dough using your hands, until smooth and elastic, and not sticky (if it is sticky, add some more flour).

4. Separate the dough in four pieces, cover with some plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.

5. Using a rolling pin, roll out each part of the dough into thin rectangle sheets. Now you have to make a decision, whether you want to go the easy or the hard way!

6. Diples get their name from the Greek word for "fold." This means that you have to fold them.. So if you have the time, go for the traditional version. Using a rolling cutter, cut the rolled out dough into rectangular pieces (approx. 12×25 cm). Heat the oil in a deep frying pan, until shimmering but not smoking hot. Place a cut dough sheet in the hot oil. Using two large cooking forks and placing the edge between the tines of the fork, hold the end furthest away from you and roll the sheet away from you. Hold it a little with the fork in the oil, until coloured and place on some kitchen paper to drain. Repeat with the rest. (It's best to cut all the diples before you begin frying.)

7. For the easy version, using a rolling cutter, cut the rolled out dough into rectangular pieces (approx. 10x5cm) or square pieces (8×8 cm). Heat the oil in a large frying pan, and deep fry the diples in batches of 3-4 at a time, depending on the how large is the pan, pushing them down with a fork and flipping them sides, until coloured. Place on some kitchen paper to drain and repeat with the rest.

8. Prepare the syrup for the diples. Pour in a pot all the syrup ingredients and bring to the boil; boil for 5 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved (do not stir the syrup).

9. Place the diples on a serving platter and drizzle with the syrup (or if you like them extra syrupy, soak each one in the syrup for a few seconds). Sprinkle with ground walnuts and cinnamon.

10. Alternatively, just warm up the honey, drizzle the diples and garnish with chopped walnuts. Enjoy!

Recipe image gallery:

Got a comment or suggestion? Drop us a note in the comments section below. And as always, don't forget to share with your friends and family!

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Traditional Greek Diples Recipe (Greek Christmas Pastries with Honey) - My Greek Dish

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Christmas on a platter, drizzled with honey syrup and topped with chopped walnuts! Diples get their name from the Greek word for "fold" and are a traditional festive dessert that is very popular around Christmas time throughout Greece.

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Diples (THEE-ples) get their name from the Greek word for “fold.”
They are thin sheets of dough that are folded while being fried into a crispy package that is drizzled with honey and dusted with cinnamon and ground walnuts.
INGREDIENTS
500 g all-purpose flour

5 eggs, medium

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

vegetable oil, for frying

For syrup

800 g granulated sugar

800 g water

juice from 1 lemon

2 cinnamon sticks

50 g honey

To serve

honey

ground cinnamon

crushed walnuts

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Aspasia From Greece introduces "Kourabiedes

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Aspasia From Greece introduces "Kourabiedes

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Kourabiedes are Greek  cookies,  coated with icing sugar.
Their main ingredients are butter, icing sugar and flour but you will also find recipes with eggs in them. They are usually flavored with vanilla or masticha (mastic resin). A very significant factor to have tasty kourabiedes lies mainly on the quality of butter used.
Ingredients
900 g all-purpose flour
500 g butter
220 g icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract (2 packets vanilla powder)
200 g blanched slivered almonds, toasted (toast for 5-10 minutes at 200* C (390*F)
icing sugar for dusting
1 tsp. rosewater
For sprinkling and dusting
icing sugar, rosewater

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Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat berries
2 cups hot water
1/2 cup poppy seeds
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup white raisins
1 shot vodka, rum, or brandy (optional)
1/2 cup honey
Extra honey and heavy cream, for serving

Soak wheat berries in two cups of hot water for two hours or overnight. Drain wheat berries and place in an enameled pot. Cover with cold water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cook over low heat for two hours, or until all liquid is absorbed. Let cool. Cover poppy seeds with a cup of boiling water for 30 minutes. Drain through a fine sieve and place in a glass bowl to dry. Grind poppy seeds in a coffee grinder or food processor, until the seeds start to show their white interiors. Add ground poppy seeds to the wheat berries and then add almonds, raisins, and honey. Mix well. Add more honey if needed. Refrigerate.

Serve kutia cold in small glass bowls with extra honey on the side. Add 2-3 tablespoons of heavy cream (or half and half) to each serving. Wheat ferments easily, so be sure to refrigerate any leftovers. The kutia will hold well for up to a week, if it is refrigerated.

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Ingredients

1/2 head of sour cabbage, outer leaves pealed, heart removed and cut in 4cm chunks

100g beef shoulder meat/ 100g pork shoulder meat (fattier parts are better), diced in 4cm chunks

100g smoked ribs and beacon, bone and meat separated, meat diced

1 tablespoon lard

1 medium onion, chopped medium size

1 carrot, diced

1/2 teaspoon dry parsley

1 teaspoons salt

1 pinch of ground pepper

pinch red sweet paprika

1 bay leaf

50ml sunflower oil

Instructions

1. Cover the bottom and the sides of the 18cm wide pot with lard and cover the bottom with a whole cabbage leaf.

2. In another bowl combine chopped onion, carrot and sunflower oil and mix to combine.

3. Take a cabbage leaf and wrap each piece of meat in a roll. Layer in the pot, pressing each role against the other tightly so that it wouldn’t open while cooking. Reserve a few leaves.

4. Add the onions and carrots to the pot, cover with remaining oil and add the spices, bay leaf and pour in 500ml cold water.

5. Cover with remaining few cabbage leaves and place inverted plate over the vegetables to prevent it from moving when the water boils. Bring to a boil on strong fire, then reduce and cook for 40min.

6. Turn the fire off and leave for another 30 minutes to be cooked down.

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Norway is a very long country with many types of traditional Norwegian Christmas dishes, depending on the local culture. My husband is from Voss, an area north of Bergen. In this area they eat smalahove ( the skull of a sheep) on skallesøndag ( means "Skull Sunday", which is the last Sunday before Christmas). Some eat it between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. The skulls are salted, smoked and then steamed. You eat the dish with boiled potatoes and rutabaga mash. The dish freak out as many foreigners as Norwegians every Christmas... Smalahove is a Christmas dish for the brave! I recommend not taking any more photos once you have started eating...

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One of the most delicious romanian dishes, piftia, also known as răcituri, is an aspic recipe prepared traditionally with smoked pork legs and garlic for the Christmas meal. Very easy to prepare and mandatory served with warm polenta, the aspic dish is one of our favorite Christmas recipes.

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There is a tradition in Ukraine to serve the Christmas dinner with 12 dishes containing no fat. The main dish is KUTIA, (wheat, poppy seeds, nuts, honey, raisins and some water), also there should be dumplings with cabbage or cherries, herring, fried fish, mushrrom soup, donuts. They all taste delicious!

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When Christmas are on its way my mind goes back to family memories and smells..Cinnamon, cloves, orange—a traditional combination of tastes identified with the holiday season—are the common factor in these fabulous cookies that are (most often) dipped in a lightly spiced syrup after baking, then topped with sprinkled nuts. In many parts of Greece, the term "Christmas Cookies" means melomakarona.

Some versions of melomakarona are made with nut centers, while others like the recipe in the photo are made with optional ground nuts in the cookie dough.

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One of my favourite delicacies  on Christmas time is FORMIGOS. This tradition comes from Trás-os-Montes. As I was born in Celorico de Basto, I am lucky to know how to cook them,  have them on my Christmas table.
Formigos is a traditional sweet made mostly of old bread and dried fruits, and very easy to make. The aspect is not the most beautiful but I am sure you will love its rich cinnamon and Port wine flavors, as well as its delicate texture.

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Bolo Rei is a traditional Portuguese sweet bread, with nuts and crystallized fruit, eaten at Christmas time. It is tradition to place a broad bean and a coin inside the cake and one of the explanations comes from a legend regarding the Three Kings as they followed the Star of Bethlehem on their way to greet baby Jesus.