Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In one large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
In a second large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, brandy, orange juice, orange zest, and sugar until well combined.
Continue whisking the wet ingredients while gradually adding in the flour mixture, about one cup at a time, adding the next cup as soon as the former is blended in (be careful not to overwork the dough). After mixing in two or three cups of flour, swap out the whisk for a silicone spatula or wooden spoon.
Once you've incorporated all of the flour, the dough will be smooth, soft, and a little greasy.
Hand-roll two tablespoons of dough (~27-30 grams or the size of a walnut) into an oval shape (a good baseline is two inches in length).
An optional step is to create a pattern on the cookie by either rolling it down a grater or take the back of a fork and press it lightly against the length of the cookie (if doing the latter, you can also press the fork cross-wise for a cross-hatch pattern).
Place the cookies on a baking sheet one inch apart and bake for 20 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly golden. Due to the volume of the recipe, you may have to bake in batches.
While the cookies are baking, combine the walnuts and ground cinnamon for the topping and set aside, then prepare your cookie and syrup assembly station!
Grab a large baking pan and line it with wax paper (this allows for easier cleanup and prevents the honey-dipped cookies from sticking to the pan).
At your station, you should have an empty space reserved for the baked cookies, the syrup, the wax paper-lined pan, and walnut topping.
When the cookies are done, remove them from the oven and immediately add hot cookies to the cool syrup face-down (5-7 at a time depending on the size of your pan), for one minute. Flip the cookies and let soak an additional minute.* Using a slotted spoon, move the cookies to the wax-lined pan. Sprinkle with the walnut topping.
Repeat these steps as each batch comes out of the oven.
Once the cookies have completely cooled, they can be transferred to a platter to serve (it's traditional to stack the platter high with melomakarona. They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature and will keep up to 5 weeks.
Enjoy!