Your email address is required to begin the subscription process. We will use it for customer service and other communications from Milk Street. You can unsubscribe from receiving our emails at any time.

Gingerbread Pepper Cookies (Pierniki)
Poland's honey-based gingerbread is heavily spiced. To replicate that and get the most flavor from our spices, we infused them into the honey. This both drew out their flavors and distributed them more evenly through the cookies. A dark, robust honey stands up nicely to the intensity of the spices and the nuttiness of the rye flour. Our favorite was buckwheat honey, which has notes of molasses. Clover honey worked well, too, but avoid honeys with a distinct floral sweetness, such as orange blossom and wildflower. Traditional pierniki dough is aged for days or even weeks, but we opted to chill the dough for only two hours or up to overnight; if time allows, bake the cookies the day before serving, as their flavor improves with resting. These can be decorated several ways. Rolling the dough balls in turbinado sugar before baking creates a pretty, crackled appearance. Alternatively, you can drizzle the baked and cooled cookies with an espresso glaze that pairs well with the spices.
40
Cookies
Don't chill the cookie dough for longer than 12 hours or the cookies will bake up cakey and thick.
1 hour
Plus chilling and cooling
Ingredients
-
260
grams (¾ cup) buckwheat or clover honey
-
8
tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter
Directions
-
01In a small saucepan over medium, combine the honey, butter, pepper, cinnamon, ground ginger and cardamom. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, then transfer to a medium bowl. Let cool until warm, 20 to 30 minutes.
Pardon the interruption
You need to be a Milk Street Digital Member to see the full recipe
JOIN MILK STREET DIGITAL & PRINT
12 WEEKS FOR JUST $1
and get access to all of our recipes and articles online, as well as in print.
GET DIGITAL & PRINT