Russian Gingerbread Cookies Pryaniki Recipes

PRYANIKI - RUSSIAN HONEY SPICE COOKIES

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, dissolve the instant coffee in the water.
• Add the butter, sugar and honey to the dissolved coffee in the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil on medium heat and cook, stirring, just until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves and the mixture is homogenous. Take off the heat, pour it into a large bowl. and cool for about 10-15 minutes.
• Add all the spices - vanilla, allspice, nutmeg and anise. You can also add cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, mint extract, etc.
• Whisk in the eggs, the baking soda dissolved in vinegar and baking powder. You will notice that the mixture will fizz a little when it's all mixed up.
• Add the flour and mix with a large wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated.
• Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and set aside at room temperature for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Shape the cookie dough into approximately 1 Tablespoon balls and place them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving some room around each cookie, since they will expand while baking. I use a 1 Tablespoon measuring scoop to get the cookie dough out of the bowl and then roll it around in my hands. This will make sure that all the cookies are the same size and will bake evenly.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Do not over bake, or the cookies will be too hard.
• Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and the milk to make a glaze. You can flavor the glaze by adding some kind of extract to it, like vanilla, mint, almond, etc.
• Dip the cooled cookies into the glaze, letting the excess run off. Set the glazed cookies on a rack or parchment paper to dry. When the glaze is dry, you can flip the cookies over and glaze the other side as well. When glazing the cookies, work fast, since the glaze will be harder to work with when it starts to dry up. You can add a tiny splash more of milk to thin it out if it hardens.
• Store the cookies at room temperature in a sealed container.

RUSSIAN GINGERBREAD COOKIES (PRYANIKI)

Steps:

• Cookies: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in honey and egg. With mixer on low, add flour mixture; mix just until a dough forms. Dough will be soft. Divide dough in half, wrap each half in plastic, and pat into rectangles. Refrigerate until firm, 1 to 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line three rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Working quickly with one rectangle at a time, roll out dough 1/4 inch thick on a well-floured surface, turning, lifting, and flouring dough (and rolling pin) as needed. Using a 2 1/2-inch round cutter, cut out rounds and transfer to prepared sheets. Brush off excess flour; freeze until firm, 1 hour. Repeat process with remaining dough.
• Top half the rounds with 1 teaspoon each plum jam. Brush edge of dough lightly with water, then top with another dough round and press edges together to seal. Reshape each cookie into a neat circle, if necessary, on sheets, spaced 2 inches apart. Bake until puffed and dry, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets.
• Glaze: Whisk together confectioners' sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Dip the top of each cookie in glaze, then transfer to a wire rack until glaze is set, 1 hour. Glazed cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

RUSSIAN SPICE COOKIES (PRYANIKI)

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves (be careful with the cloves-too much can produce a bitter taste), optional nutmeg, optional allspice, and salt. Set aside.
• In a separate large bowl, beat together 2 egg yolks , 1 whole egg, melted butter, and honey or agave syrup. If using agave, bake 25 degrees lower because products brown faster. In this case, bake at 325 F instead of 350 F when using honey.
• Mix in the dry ingredients until well incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 350 F. Place parchment paper the size of your cookie sheets on a clean surface. Using a cookie scoop, portion out mounds of dough and roll them in your hands until they are a completely smooth ball. Place on the prepared cookie sheets leaving 2 inches between each cookie. They will flatten out somewhat but still retain a domed shape.
• Bake for 10 to 20 minutes, or until just golden, rotating the sheets halfway through for even baking. Cool on the sheets until the cookies firm slightly. Transfer to racks to finish cooling.
• Gather the ingredients.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and enough water (1 to 2 tablespoons) to form a thin icing.
• Spread on cooled cookies with a pastry brush.
• Allow icing to harden before storing cookies in an airtight container.

SPECULAAS COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, mace, white pepper, and cloves in a large bowl.
• Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in half the flour mixture. Beat in water, then remaining flour mixture. Shape into 3 disks. Pat each to a 1-inch thickness, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Dust surface and springerle mold lightly with confectioners' sugar. Roll out dough to a 1/4- to 3/8-inch thickness (deeper molds will need thicker dough). Cut a piece of dough about the size of the mold. Press mold firmly into dough, flip over, and gently roll over dough with a rolling pin. Flip over, and press onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Using a knife, trim excess dough. Gently coax dough out of mold with fingertips and onto a baking sheet. Repeat, spacing cookies 1 inch apart, and placing same-size cookies on same sheet. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place 1 sheet of cookies in oven, and immediately reduce temperature to 250. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until cookies are set and just beginning to turn light gold around edges, 55 to 65 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.