Hello Everyone,

First, I'm a 44 year old man who enjoys cooking, barbecue mostly, seafood, other stuff..but I've never attempted making cookies. This recipe came from my Grandmother, her parents came from Greece, and is for Greek Diples cookies. Well, her version of it anyways as it seems it varies from Diples to a Melomakarona cookie which is similar. The last time I had these cookies was when I was in the 6th grade. My mother hated making them back then and she hasn't made them since. She always complained, whenever I brought up the topic to get a chuckle, that she hated making them because the dough was very stiff and always broke on her when she was forming the bow shapes. Perhaps the recipe below would shed some light:

Greek Diples

3 cups flour
1 cup farina
4 teaspoons baking flour
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 stick margarine
orange juice
walnuts
honey

Combine above ingredients and knead, adding enough orange juice to moisten. Roll out and shape into bows. Deep fry until brown and drain on paper towels. Drizzle with honey and roll in chopped walnuts.

That's it. So I'm trying to figure out, how can I make the dough more flexible to form into the bow shapes? is there a way to do this without altering the recipe..maybe warming the dough or something?..or should I change the recipe slightly..perhaps only adding a cup of flour to start, do a test bow, then add as needed?..I'd appreciate your opinions on this. Please try to be as non-technical as possible. I'd really like to make these again as I remember my mom made them for me to take to a christmas party we were having when I was in the 6th grade and everyone, including me, loved them..well, except my mom..

Thanks,

Art

Hi, Art. Welcome to CC.

I looked at other diples recipes online, and by comparison, there is clearly not enough liquid for the amount of flour used.

Theresa

Hi Art,
I agree with Playingwithsugar. Try adding more orange juice.

Great! OK, also some of the diples recipes call for adding a little bit of brandy. Would this work also? Would the alcohol "cook off" meaning I could give these away to young children and those who do not partake of alcohol without worry? If I use the OJ, given my quantity of ingredients, any idea how much I should start with? My family recipe doesn't give me an exact quantity..maybe a half-cup, full-cup?

Thank you both for your quick replies! I'm going to try making a batch this weekend and tweak the recipe wear I can make more around christmas.

If you use alcohol, I don't think that would be enough liquid since you would use such a small amount.

Hi cheatize, thanks for the reply..I've also seen these diples recipes using a cup of whole milk. Any opinions on that?

My concern with using to much OJ is that it might upset the flavor..