Christmas in Poland begins early, with the arrival of St Nicholas on 6 December, a tradition marked by the giving of gifts of fruit, cookies and small toys to children. The delicious scent of homemade gingerbread cookies fills the air in homes, marking the beginning of the season. Balancing the warm ginger, many traditional Polish gingerbread recipes include local honey and other festive spices, with some recipes dating back to the 13th century and the city of Toruń, where you can still find an abundance of gingerbread museums and workshops, should you ever visit. After baking, the cookies can be stored in a tin and later hung on the tree or included as a stocking filler. They improve in flavour over time and soften slightly. Children love to help with this simple recipe, and as an alternative to decorating my cookies with royal icing, I will often drizzle over melted chocolate and decorate with poppy seeds and small flecks of candied clementine peel. You can cut cookies into any shape, but our family favourite is a mix of hearts and stars.
Makes about 60 small cookies
For the cookie dough
butter 125g
light brown sugar 125g
runny honey 150g
plain flour 450g
baking powder 2 tsp
ground cinnamon 1 tbsp
ground ginger 1 tbsp
cocoa powder 1 tbsp
salt a pinch
egg 1, beaten
For the candied orange peel
oranges 2
granulated sugar 250g
water 375ml
For the glaze
dark chocolate 300g (orange chocolate also works well)
white chocolate 300g
poppy seeds 2 tsp
To make the cookie dough, put the butter, light brown sugar and runny honey into a pan, and heat gently until the butter has melted. Set to one side.
Sift the dry ingredients together into a large bowl, and stir to combine. Add the egg and start to mix that into the dough, then pour in the melted butter mixture and stir again, until eventually you can bring everything together by hand into a rough ball of dough.
Tip the mixture out on to a board lightly dusted with flour and knead again for just a minute, until you have a smooth ball of dough. Wrap in clingfilm, and place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so, while you heat the oven.
Heat your oven to 160C fan/gas mark 4.
Take your dough from the refrigerator, and cut it into two halves. Roll out one half at a time, until the dough is about ½cm thick.
Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Using a cookie cutter, cut out the heart shapes, and carefully lift the cookie dough on to the baking paper, leaving a 2cm gap around each one, until you fill the tray. Bake in batches, for 7 minutes per tray, watching them carefully after 6 minutes to make sure they do not catch. They should be a light golden brown colour. Carefully lift the cookies off the tray, and leave them to cool on a large chopping board, or on some baking paper.
Repeat with the second ball of dough, this time cutting out star shapes, and baking them, again, in batches for 7 minutes.
If you are going to hang your cookies on a tree, it is best to make a small hole in each cookie as soon as they are cool enough to handle from the oven. I like to use the tip of a chopstick. You can thread some twine or ribbon through after you have decorated them.
For the quick candied peel, using a vegetable peeler or a sharp knife, peel the oranges, trying not to get too much white pith underneath. Pour 250g sugar into a small pan, followed by 375ml water and bring to the boil. Add the orange peel, and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Strain the sugar syrup (keep this for Christmas cocktails) and leave the peel to cool. Chop into very fine strips and then into very small pieces, and use to decorate the cookies. Prepare any leftover peel for storage using 2-3 tablespoons of granulated sugar to coat thoroughly. The peel will keep in the fridge in a jar for four weeks.
To make the chocolate glaze, take two heatproof bowls and break up the dark chocolate and the white chocolate separately into each bowl. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, place one of the bowls over the gently bubbling water and melt the chocolate. Drizzle the dark chocolate over the star-shaped cookies, and then repeat the process with the white chocolate and drizzle it over the heart-shaped cookies. Decorate with the candied orange peel and a light sprinkling of poppy seeds over the white chocolate cookies.
Allow the chocolate to cool and set completely before storing. You can store the cookies in a tin or sealed container for up to 4 weeks.
You can make the dough ahead, and freeze it, wrapped in clingfilm, for up to 2 months.
From The Sweet Polish Kitchen by Ren Behan (Pavilion, £26), published in February 2024. To pre-order a copy for £22.88 go to guardianbookshop.com
