Ingredients
Dough
- 500 gplain flour
- 350 ghoney
- 150 gsugar
- 100 gbutter
- 2eggs
- 2 tspbicarbonate of soda
Spice
- 2 tbsppiernik spice: cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, coriander seed, star anise
- 1 tspground black pepper
To finish
- 1egg, beaten, to glaze
- or 200 g dark chocolate, to coat
- or a thin sugar glaze
Optional filling
- plum jam, powidła
- rose petal jam
Equipment
- carved wooden gingerbread moulds, or patterned stamps
Directions
- Warm the honey, sugar and butter together until melted and smooth, and do not let it boil. Cool it to lukewarm, then beat in the eggs. Cool it first or the eggs scramble into threads.
- Mix the flour, bicarbonate and all the spices, then work them into the honey mixture into a firm dough. The spice blend should be strong enough to smell sharply medicinal in the bowl, and the black pepper belongs in it.
- Rest it for at least a week, and traditionally for several weeks or months. When you are ready, bring the dough back to room temperature and knead it briefly until pliable.
- Roll it out to about 8 mm thick. Roll it thicker than an ordinary biscuit, because the carved pattern needs depth to survive baking.
- Dust a carved wooden mould with flour, tap out the excess, and press the dough firmly into it. Dust the mould properly or the dough sticks and tears the pattern out.
- Press hard and evenly into every corner of the carving, then knock the shape out onto a lined tray. Bake at 180°C (355°F) for 12 to 15 minutes. They will feel soft when they come out and firm up considerably as they cool, which is expected.
- Take them out while they still give, or they bake hard. Store them in a tin with a slice of apple, which keeps them soft.
Technique
- Toruń has a living gingerbread museum where visitors bake in moulds, and it is the city’s best-known trade.
- Some pierniki are split and filled with plum or rose jam.
- The dough freezes well and can be matured then frozen.
Substitutions
- A ready-mixed piernik or gingerbread spice blend.
- A patterned rolling pin or springerle mould in place of a carved block.
Variations
- Katarzynki, chocolate-coated and six-lobed.
- Filled with plum jam.
- Made soft and cake-like, as piernik staropolski.
History
Baked in Toruń since the medieval period, when the city traded honey and spices on the Vistula.
Frequently asked questions
What is Pierniki toruńskie?
Pierniki toruńskie is a snack from Poland: spiced honey gingerbread pressed in carved moulds, sometimes glazed. Baked in Toruń since the medieval period, when the city traded honey and spices on the Vistula.
How long does Pierniki toruńskie take to make?
Pierniki toruńskie takes 40 min plus at least 1 week resting of preparation and 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 30. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Pierniki toruńskie?
Yes, within limits. A ready-mixed piernik or gingerbread spice blend. A patterned rolling pin or springerle mould in place of a carved block.
What is the most important thing to get right in Pierniki toruńskie?
Warm the honey, sugar and butter together until melted and smooth, and do not let it boil. Cool it to lukewarm, then beat in the eggs. Cool it first or the eggs scramble into threads.
