Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 ½ tablespoon cognac
• 1 ¾ cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• Zest of two oranges
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup fresh orange juice

For the Syrup

• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 ½ cups honey (thyme honey would be best)
• ½ unwaxed lemon, juice and zest
• ½ cup ground pistachio nuts or walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
2. Sift the flour and the baking powder into a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the olive oil, canola oil, cognac, sugar, cinnamon, ground cloves, and orange zest.
4. Dissolve the baking soda in the orange juice and add it to the mixture. Whisk briskly.
5. Add flour from Step 2 to the wet mixture and ensure it is well-blended. Don’t overwork the mixture. The resulting dough has to be light and oily.
6. Mold small segments of the dough into little walnut-sized oblong pieces.
7. Place on a shallow oven pan. Proceed to score the surface with a fork.
8. Bake for approximately 25 minutes until golden brown.
9. Set aside to cool.
10. For the syrup, combine the sugar, water, and honey in a pan and boil for 3 minutes after the mix starts bubbling away. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting possible and start dipping the cookies in one by one in order to absorb some of the syrup. Put on a nice presentation platter and sprinkle with the ground pistachios or walnuts.

Tip: After dipping the cookies in the syrup, pour the remaining syrup over the biscuits for extra deliciousness.