Chef Dimitra
Athens Loukoumades (Λουκουμάδες Αθηναϊκοί)
Athens loukoumades are yeasted honey puffs, fried gold and hollow, then drenched with warm thyme honey, cinnamon, and walnuts while still crisp-edged.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Peloponnese Diples (Δίπλες Πελοποννήσου)
Created by
The Peloponnese's celebration pastry, thin egg sheets fried and folded in hot oil, then glossed with honey, walnuts, and cinnamon for Christmas, weddings, and name-day tables.
Pastries & Cookies
Greek
Christmas
Celebration
Special Occasion
1 hr 15 min
Active Time
45 min cook•2 hr total
Yield30 diples
Diples belong to the Peloponnese, especially the wedding and Christmas tables of Mani, Messinia, and Laconia. They are thin egg-dough sheets, fried until blistered and pale gold, then folded into ribbons and dressed with warm honey, walnuts, and cinnamon. The region is the dish's surname here. A round biscuit with honey is not the same thing.
The whole sweet depends on one quick movement. The dough must be folded in the oil while it is still flexible, before it sets crisp. Miss that moment and you have a flat fried sheet, good enough with honey perhaps, but not diples. Work one piece at a time until your hands understand the timing.
Use a good Greek honey, fresh walnuts, and eggs with some strength in them. Λίγα και καλά, a few things, and good ones. I like the syrup warm and the pastries cooled, because the folds keep their bite while the honey settles into the blisters. This is celebration food, but it is not beyond a home cook. It asks for a clear table, steady oil, and patience.
Diples are strongly tied to the Peloponnese, where they have long marked weddings, Christmas, baptisms, and other household celebrations. Their name comes from diplono, meaning to fold, which describes the act that separates them from other fried dough sweets. In Mani and nearby regions, women traditionally made large trays of them before a wedding, stacking the honeyed folds high with walnuts as a sign of abundance.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
all-purpose flour
Quantity
500g
plus extra for rolling
large eggs
Quantity
5
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
30ml
ouzo or tsipouro
Quantity
30ml
fresh lemon juice
Quantity
15ml
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon
neutral oil or light olive oil
Quantity
500ml
for frying
Greek honey
Quantity
350g
water
Quantity
120ml
granulated sugar
Quantity
80g
cinnamon stick
Quantity
1
lemon peel
Quantity
1 strip
walnuts
Quantity
120g
finely chopped
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| all-purpose flourplus extra for rolling | 500g |
| large eggs | 5 |
| extra virgin olive oil | 30ml |
| ouzo or tsipouro | 30ml |
| fresh lemon juice | 15ml |
| fine sea salt | 1 teaspoon |
| neutral oil or light olive oilfor frying | 500ml |
| Greek honey | 350g |
| water | 120ml |
| granulated sugar | 80g |
| cinnamon stick | 1 |
| lemon peel | 1 strip |
| walnutsfinely chopped | 120g |
| ground cinnamon | 1 teaspoon |
Equipment Needed
- •pasta machine or long rolling pin
- •wide heavy frying pan, 28 to 30cm
- •candy or frying thermometer
- •two forks or slim metal tongs
- •large serving platter
Instructions
- 1
Make the dough
Put the flour and salt in a wide bowl. Beat the eggs with the olive oil, ouzo, and lemon juice, then pour them into the flour. Mix until shaggy, then knead 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is firm, smooth, and no longer sticky. It should feel tighter than bread dough. Wrap it well and let it rest 40 minutes.
- 2
Prepare the syrup
Warm the honey, water, sugar, cinnamon stick, and lemon peel in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Simmer 4 minutes, then keep it warm on the lowest heat. Diples take the syrup best when the pastry is cooled and the honey is warm, so they drink it without going limp.
- 3
Roll the sheets
Cut the dough into 6 pieces and keep the pieces covered. Roll one piece at a time through a pasta machine, from the widest setting down to a very thin sheet, about setting 6 or 7 on most machines. If rolling by hand, work on a lightly floured table and roll until you can almost see your fingers through the dough. Cut into rectangles about 12 by 18cm.
- 4
Heat the oil
Heat 4 to 5cm of oil in a wide heavy pan to 175C. Keep a thermometer in the oil if you have one. Too cool and the dough drinks oil. Too hot and it browns before you can fold it. Set a tray with paper nearby, plus two forks or slim tongs.
- 5
Fry and fold
Slide one rectangle of dough into the oil. As soon as it bubbles and begins to stiffen, catch one narrow edge with two forks and fold it over itself, turning gently so it forms a loose roll or folded ribbon. This is the method that decides diples: fold fast, while the sheet is still soft. Wait even a few seconds too long and it crisps flat, and then no amount of honey will make it a diple.
Fry one or two at a time until your hands learn the timing. Diples are quick, not difficult. - 6
Drain the pastries
Fry each diple until pale gold, usually 45 to 70 seconds. Lift it out carefully and drain on paper. Let the pastries cool before syruping. They should feel light in the hand and crisp under your fingers.
- 7
Honey and finish
Dip each cooled diple into the warm honey syrup for 8 to 10 seconds, turning once. Lift it onto a platter and spoon over a little more honey if the folds need it. Sprinkle generously with chopped walnuts and ground cinnamon while the surface is glossy.
Chef Tips
- •Use honey you would happily eat from the spoon. Thyme honey is beautiful here, but any good Greek blossom honey is better than a harsh, anonymous one.
- •A pasta machine makes the dough even and thin, and I won't pretend otherwise. A rolling pin works, but flour lightly and keep turning the dough so it doesn't grip the table.
- •Store unsyruped fried diples in an airtight tin for 2 days, then honey them before serving. Once syruped, they are best the same day, still crisp at the edges and sticky in the folds.
Advance Preparation
- •The dough can rest, wrapped, for up to 4 hours at cool room temperature.
- •The diples can be fried 1 day ahead and kept unsyruped in an airtight tin.
- •Chop the walnuts and make the honey syrup a few hours ahead; warm the syrup gently before dipping.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 50g)
Calories
180 calories
Total Fat
7 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
6 g
Cholesterol
31 mg
Sodium
90 mg
Total Carbohydrates
26 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
12 g
Protein
3 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Greek Fried Sweets
Browse the full collection
Chef Dimitra
Corfu Svingoi (Σβίγγοι Κέρκυρας)
Corfu's svingoi are egg-rich choux fritters, crisp at the edges and hollow-light inside, dipped in honey syrup and cinnamon for the feast of Agios Spyridon.
Chef Dimitra
Lalangia Manis (Λαλάγγια Μάνης)
Mani's Christmas lalangia are lean olive-oil dough ropes, fried crisp and dressed with honey, sesame, and cinnamon, a fasting sweet with teeth.
Chef Dimitra
Politiki Touloumbes (Τουλούμπες Πολίτικες)
Politiki touloumbes are ridged cooked-dough fingers fried slowly until amber, then dropped hot into cold lemon syrup so every groove drinks and the center stays tender.