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Gingerbread Pepper Cookies (Pierniki)

40 Cookies

1 hour Plus chilling and cooling

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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

Tip

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

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Reviews
Nancy G.
December 23, 2023
Authentic Flavor and Texture
Closest I've made to the flavor of thef amous gingerbread from Torun. I use the turbinado sugar and the glaze. The sugar gives a nice crunch and the glaze compliments the pepper. They are gingerbread, not gingersnaps, so this isn't supposed to be crisp all the way through. It's one of my family's favorite cookies.
Delaney T.
December 12, 2023
Great for the holidays!
Cookies have an excellent flavor-- however, the texture is quite soft and chewy