Perníčky (Czech Gingerbread Cookies)

Name: Perníčky (Czech Gingerbread Cookies)
Prep time: 1 h 10 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 2 h 10 min
Yield: 50 to 80 cookies (depending on the size and thickness)
Ingredients: 5 whole cloves or ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves; ½ stick of cinnamon or ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon; ¼ teaspoon whole fennel seeds; ¼ teaspoon whole anise seeds; 1 star anise; 4 cups (560 grams) all purpose flour; 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda; 3 large eggs; 1 ¼ cups (150 grams) powdered sugar; ⅓ cup (110 grams) honey; 4 tablespoons (55 grams) unsalted butter; 1 large egg; 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder; 1 egg white; 2 cups (240 grams) powdered sugar; Water as needed

User Reviews

4.8

42 reviews

Excellent

Prep Time
1 hr 10 mins
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
2 hrs 10 mins
Servings
50 to 80 cookies (depending on the size and thickness)
Calories
89 kcal
Course
Dessert
Cuisine
Czech

Perníčky (Czech Gingerbread Cookies)

Megan Mendez

Report

Making Perníčky, or Czech gingerbread cookies, is a nice change from trying the standard American recipes. These Czech Christmas cookies are less sweet, lack ginger, and feature a mild anise flavor in the spice mixture.

Share:

I Made This!

Be the first!

Print

7 people printed this

Save this

Be the first!

Ingredients

Servings

Dough:

5 whole cloves or ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
½ stick of cinnamon or ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon whole fennel seeds
¼ teaspoon whole anise seeds
1 star anise
4 cups (560 grams) all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
3 large eggs
1 ¼ cups (150 grams) powdered sugar
⅓ cup (110 grams) honey
4 tablespoons (55 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Topping:

1 large egg
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Royal Icing:

1 egg white from large egg
2 cups (240 grams) powdered sugar
Water as needed

Add to Shopping List

Instructions

Grind the spices together in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. In a medium mixing bowl combine spices with flour and baking soda.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the eggs and powdered sugar (start on low speed first so you don’t get a cloud of powdered sugar). Beat until frothy and the sugar is dissolved, scraping down the sides once or twice as needed. Add the honey and melted butter, and continue to mix until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until it starts coming together into a dry and crumbly dough.
Carefully dump it out of the bowl onto a large work surface and knead gently by hand until all of the crumbs are absorbed, and the dough is a smooth, cohesive, and sticky mass. The dough is ready immediately to roll out and cut into shapes.
Preheat the oven to 250°F. Line 3 to 4 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Lightly dust work surface with flour, cut off a smaller piece of dough, and roll it out on the floured surface until about ⅛-inch thick. Lightly dust with more flour as needed as you work with the dough. Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters, and arrange the cut cookies onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between cookies. After rolling and cutting all the dough, gather the dough scraps into a ball and roll them out again, and cut more cookies. Repeat as needed.
Bake cookies one pan at a time on the center rack of the oven for 14 minutes. Meanwhile, make the topping by beating together the egg and cocoa powder until smooth (this may take a little effort to get out all the lumps; use the back of a spoon if needed to press on the lumps). After removing a pan of cookies from the oven, immediately use a pastry brush to brush the egg-cocoa mixture evenly over the top of each cookie (while they are still hot). This will provide color and shine. Repeat with the remaining cookies, and allow them to cool completely before decorating.
To make the royal icing, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment combine the egg white and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth. If the mixture is too thick (it likely will be) beat in water by the teaspoonful until desired consistency is reached (2 to 3 teaspoons should be enough).
Fit a pastry bag with a #2 or #3 round pastry tip, and transfer royal icing into prepared pastry bag. Make sure any extra icing is covered in a bowl, as it will dry out quickly when exposed to air. Decorate cookies with royal icing. Allow icing to dry completely before storing in tin containers in a cool, dry place for 3 weeks or more.

Notes

If you don’t have enough baking sheets to prep them all at once, you can reuse the pans for additional batches of cookies once the preliminary batches are transferred to cooling racks to cool.
You will likely yield more icing than you will need depending on how much decoration you pipe onto your cookies.
If you don’t have enough baking sheets to prep them all at once, you can reuse the pans for additional batches of cookies once the preliminary batches are transferred to cooling racks to cool.
You will likely yield more icing than you will need depending on how much decoration you pipe onto your cookies.
Adapted from Czech Cookbook

Nutrition Information

Show Details

Serving 1cookie Calories 89kcal (4%) Carbohydrates 17g (6%) Protein 2g (4%) Fat 1g (2%) Saturated Fat 1g (5%) Cholesterol 17mg (6%) Sodium 9mg (0%) Potassium 9mg (0%) Sugar 10g (20%)