THE FESTIVAL CARNET
Pierniki with honey and spices
Homemade honey and spice pierniki, cut into stars or hearts after resting in the refrigerator, then cooked briefly and served plain, without icing.
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Homemade honey and spice pierniki, cut into stars or hearts after resting in the refrigerator, then cooked briefly and served plain, without icing. This version is designed for a home kitchen, with weighed quantities and visual cues. Prepare the ingredients before starting and reserve the indicated cooling time: it is part of the recipe.
Read the whole steps before working on the dough. The durations remain indicative; a raised dough must actually swell, a cookie must cool before being handled and a wet filling requires a cool storage.
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The preparation step by step
Measure the ingredients
Weigh 300 g of flour, 100 g of honey, 60 g of brown sugar and 60 g of butter. Separately prepare 5 g of baking powder and 2 teaspoons of spices. Cover two baking tray of baking paper; the cookies will be spread and cut, not laid by spoon.
Melt gently
Pour honey, brown sugar and butter in a small saucepan. Heat gently, stirring until butter is melted and sugar is moistened. Do not boil for long: excessive concentration would harden the dough.
Cool the mixture
Pour into a bowl and let cool for 15 to 20 minutes. The mixture must be able to be touched without strong heat. This wait avoids cooking the egg on contact and gives a dough easier to gather.
Prepare the egg
Break the egg in a bowl, remove any shells and beat it with a fork. Stir it in the warm mixture with the spatula. Scrape the bottom so that the thick honey and egg do not remain separated.
Add the dry ingredients
Mixture flour, baking powder and spices. Pour it in the bowl twice. Gather with the spatula and then briefly with the hands, until you no longer see dry flour. Do not look for an elastic paste like a brioche.
Let it rest in the refrigerator
Disc-plated, packs and refrigerates for at least 2 hours. The dough firms by cooling. You can keep it overnight in the refrigerator; then wait 10 minutes before spreading it if it is very hard.
Spread the right thickness
Spread between two sheets of baking paper on 5 mm. Check that the middle and edges are the same thickness. A sticky paste cools for 10 minutes; avoids adding a lot of flour.
Cutting without small details
Cut 24 simple shapes from 5 to 6 cm: thick stars, hearts or round. Place them 2 cm apart. Gather the offcuts once and cut again. Fine star branches would brown before the center.
Preheat and cook
Preheat to 175 °C, conventional oven setting (no fan). Cook each plate for 10 to 12 minutes. The biscuits should be taken but remain a little soft in the center; they firm up as they cool down. Do not wait for them hard in the oven.
Cool before moving
Leave 5 minutes on the plate and then gently move over a wire rack. Wait 45 minutes before tasting or packing. This version remains without icing; honey and spices are enough for the golden brown decor.
Let the texture evolve
Cold storage in a closed box. Honey cookies change slightly in texture after one night. Do not add a piece of wet fruit to the box: this would make storage less predictable.
Simply serve
Presents a small selection with a broken cookie to show the thickness of the dough. Avoids unplanned sculptures or thick icings. Keep the rest protected from the air to limit its drying out.
Conservation. Store 2 days in an airtight box, after full cooling. Freeze in portions for up to 1 month for longer storage.
Recipe proposal with quantities and step by step. Times vary depending on the material: follow also the markers of texture and cooking.
The benchmarks for success
Respect the texture
Stop mixing, lifting or cooking at the mark described in the step by step. The indicated time remains an estimate: the temperature of the room and the power of the oven can change it.
Packs only cold
Let the indicated cooling finish before stowing. A box closed too early traps the steam and softens the surface.
Questions Before You Start
Why keep the same thickness everywhere?
At 5 mm regular, cookies cook in a comparable way. Very fine points would brown before the center; choose thick stars, hearts or circles.
Why don't you cook the pierniki too much?
They are firming out of the oven. Remove them when the edges are taken and the center remains a little soft, without raw dough; waiting for a hard texture in the oven would dry them out.
Can the dough wait for one night?
Yeah. Pack it and keep it in the refrigerator until the next day. Wait about 10 minutes before spreading it if it is too firm.
Baking tips for this recipe
- Preheat the oven according to the plug and prepare the mold before mixing the last ingredients.
- Uses the dimensions and cooking mode indicated: a higher or wider mold changes the cooking of the center.
- Follow the visual cues of step by step in addition to the duration. Respect the intended cooling before unmoulding or decorating.
Substitutions and variations
You can choose a sweeter or more full-bodied honey, keeping the indicated amount. Replacing honey with dry sugar, on the other hand, requires a review of the recipe.
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