Chefs Binge · Eastern European · Serves 44 Cookies

Polish Christmas Gingerbread Cookies

Soft, honey-rich Polish gingerbread biscuits, deeply spiced and iced in white. Made weeks ahead of Christmas and better for the wait.

Prep

25 min

Cook

12 min

Total

10 hrs 37 min

Serves

44 Cookies

Per serving

79 kcal

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

500 g Plain flour - Ordinary plain flour, around 10.5 to 11.2% protein. If yours is very soft, 450 g plain plus 50 g strong flour gives a little more structure

150 g Icing sugar - sifted

1 tsp Dutch-processed Cocoa - For colour. Dutched cocoa is alkalised, so it adds no acid and does not affect the raising

150 g Butter

200 g Honey - Or 200 to 220 g golden syrup for a softer, chewier biscuit

150 g Soured cream - 18% fat, and it is the acid the baking soda reacts with

4 Egg yolks

2 tsp Baking soda

Spice Blend

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1.5 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cloves

½ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground allspice

Decoration

1 batch Ready-made royal icing - About 250 g, enough to pipe fine designs on all of them

Equipment

Small Saucepan · Rolling Pin · Cookie Cutters (Christmas Shapes) · Piping Bags · Small Piping Tips · Cooling Rack · Fine Mesh Sieve · Whisk

Method

Warm the honey, butter and spices. Place the butter, honey (or golden syrup), cocoa and all the spices into a saucepan. Warm gently over a low heat until melted and fragrant - honey scorches easily, so keep it gentle. Stir well and set aside to cool completely before it meets the egg yolks.

Foam the baking soda into the soured cream. Combine the soured cream with the baking soda. It will froth up and look curdled, which is exactly right: the soda is alkaline, the cream is acidic, and that foam is what makes the biscuits light.

Combine the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and the sifted icing sugar. Add the egg yolks and the foaming soured cream mixture.

Add the cooled spiced honey. Pour in the cooled honey, butter and spice mixture. Mix until a thick, sticky dough forms. The stickiness is normal and it will firm up in the fridge, so do not work extra flour in.

Chill overnight. Wrap the dough and refrigerate for 10 to 12 hours, or overnight. This improves the texture, stops the biscuits spreading, and deepens the flavour.

Roll and cut. Dust your surface lightly with flour. Roll the dough to 6 to 7 mm for a classic gingerbread, or 10 mm for soft, melt-in-the-mouth biscuits. Cut out your shapes, then chill the cut shapes for 10 minutes before baking so they hold clean, sharp edges.

Bake. Preheat the oven to 175 C, or 160 C in a fan oven. Place the biscuits on a lined tray with space between them and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on thickness. They should look lightly puffed with a matte surface. Honey browns faster than sugar, so do not wait for golden.

Brush for shine and softness. Immediately after they come out of the oven, brush each biscuit lightly with warm honey or warm golden syrup. This locks in moisture and gives the glossy, bakery-style finish that icing sits on beautifully. Cool completely on a rack.

Pipe the decoration. Transfer the icing to a piping bag fitted with a fine round tip and pipe snowflakes, dots, stars and lines onto the cooled biscuits. Allow the icing to dry for 1 to 2 hours until fully set before stacking or boxing them.

Chef’s notes

Storage for Long-Term Softness

Store in an airtight tin with:

Option A: a slice of apple wrapped in parchment (replace every 2-3 days)
Option B: fresh orange peel for aroma and moisture
Option C: “steam refresh” - place cookies in a sealed tin with a ramekin of hot water + 1 tsp honey for 10 minutes, then remove

These methods keep the cookies soft and fragrant for weeks. Smacznego!

Per serving Calories 79 kcal · Protein 1 g · Carbs 12.6 g · Fat 2.7 g · Saturates 1.7 g · Fibre 0.3 g · Sugar 7.2 g · Sodium 34 mg

chefsbinge.com/polish-christmas-gingerbread-cookies

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