FESTIVE SEASON 2013-2014: Roxakia - Traditional sweet two-coloured pastry bites

Small and cute sweets and quite light in taste. A traditional delicacy coming from up North Greece but possibly they first arrived with the Greeks from Asia Minor. In Thessaloniki, where they are considered as a local delicacy, they also serve Roxakia as a Christmas sweet treat

Cooked by Maria Loi,
a prominent Head Cook and food author
"Kouzinomageiremata" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper

Ingredients:
1 tea-cup of milk
1 sachet of dry yeast
1 tea-cup of walnuts, finely chopped
1 tea-cup of olive oil
1 tbsp of cinnamon powder
1 tbsp of cloves powder
2 eggs
1 tsp of baking powder
1 orange, the zest
500gr. flour
3 tsp of cocoa, unsweetened

For the syrup:
3 glasses of water
5 glasses of sugar
1/2 a lemon

Method:
In a large bowl, initially, mix together the yeast with the milk and then gradually add the oil, the walnuts, the cinnamon and the cloves, the eggs, the orange zest, the baking powder and in the end the flour. Mix well and you should be left with a soft dough.

Divide the dough in to two equal pieces. In one of them add the cocoa powder and mix well to blend and change colour. In a greased bowl, put the two parts of the dough, cover with cling film and let them rise in a warm place for about 20-30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, get one small amount of the white dough and roll it into a strip shape (about 3cm thick and 15cm long).  On top of this strip stick another one of the same size, this time taken from the "brown" dough. Using the rolling pin (lightly floured as well) roll the two dough strips out (together) into a 1/2cm thick long strip.

Start rolling up the dough as tight as possible and then using a sharp knife cut into slices of about 1cm thick each. They will look like pinwheels in a way. Take each slice and press with your hands to flatten them into a round piece of two-coloured dough, each one about 1cm thick.

When you finish with all the dough, transfer the roxakia on greased (or lined with baking paper) oven dishes.

Put in the oven and bake to 200°C, in the middle place of the oven, for about 20 minutes.

While the roxakia are baking, prepare the syrup. In a saucepan add the sugar, the water and the lemon and let them come to the boil, making sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Let them simmer in medium heat enough to end up with a medium thick syrup.

When the roxakia are baked, immediately slide them into the hot syrup and let them soak for a couple of minutes in there.

Using a slotted spoon transfer them on a serving dish and let them stand for a bit before you serve them.