Polish Christmas Cookies (Pierniki)

Ingredients

1 lbs of honey (0.5 kg)

2 cups of sugar

2 sticks of butter

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp of allspice

1 tsp of ground cloves

1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg

1/2 a jar of plum marmalade

2 Tbsp of cocoa

9-10 cups of flour (I know it seems a lot, but if you add less the dough will be too sticky)

1/2 cup of strong coffee (2 tsp of coffee with water filling half of the cup)

5 eggs

2 tsp of baking soda

Instructions 

First, combine the honey, sugar, butter, and spices in a pot. Cook on medium heat until it comes to a boil. Make sure to stir it occasionally and watch it as it will begin to rise quickly when it starts boiling. Let is cool.

Combine marmalade, cocoa, flour, coffee, eggs, baking soda, and the previously prepared honey and spice mixture. Mix it well until it creates a smooth brown mixture. I mix it with my hands as the dough is quite heavy.

On a table, spread some flour and take out a portion of the dough. Using a rolling pin, spread it into a thin sheet of dough. It should be just a few millimeters thin. With your favorite cookie cutters, cut out the cookies and place them on a baking sheet that is covered with some parchment paper. Give some space between the cookies because they will grow.

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10-13 min depending if you prefer cookies to be soft or crunchy.

*This recipe makes about 150 cookies, so if you would like a smaller portion cut the ingredients in half.

Thoughts

These are my favorite Christmas cookies. It is my grandmother’s recipe, and when I was a little girl, I made them with her yearly. Now, I continue making them myself every year for Christmas. These are cookies which I have grown up with, and their flavor is magnificent.

In polish they are called pierniki. There are thousands of different pierniki recipes. Each home has their own recipe, and I have tried many. However, I believe, maybe with a little bias, that these are the best. I love their flavor, and they bring back many great memories.

You can decorate them as you wish, but I prefer them plain. I think, their flavor is best the way they are. They can stay fresh in a closed container for up to two weeks. You can put some orange peel in your container to keep them fresh and not hard.

I hope you enjoy them just as much as my family and I have and that they become your Christmas tradition like it is ours. You will not find cookies like these anywhere else; I’m sure of it.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!