Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Television: Polish Gingerbread Cookies with Honey and Rye

• Christina Zeiders
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  Christina Zeiders is the Communications Specialist at WITF. She helps get the word out about all of WITF's programs, events and community conversations.

If your sweet tooth is calling out to you, Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Television has come to your rescue. Their bakers have a flavorful Polish-style gingerbread cookie (pierniki) recipe to satisfy your cravings. Here’s what they have to say about it:

Pierniki, Poland’s honey-based gingerbread cookie, is heavily spiced. To replicate that and get the most flavor from our spices, we infuse them into the honey. This both draws out their flavors and distributes them more evenly through the cookies. A dark, robust honey stands up nicely to the intensity of the spices and the nuttiness of the rye flour. Our favorite is buckwheat honey, which has notes of molasses. Clover honey works well, too, but avoid honeys with a distinct floral sweetness, such as orange blossom and wildflower.

Traditional pierniki dough is aged for days or even weeks, but we opted to chill the dough for only two hours or up to overnight; if time allows, bake the cookies the day before serving, as their flavor improves with resting. Rolling the dough balls in turbinado sugar before baking creates a pretty, crackled appearance.

Don’t chill the cookie dough for longer than 12 hours or the cookies will come out cakey and thick.

In a small saucepan over medium, combine the honey, butter, pepper, cinnamon, ground ginger and cardamom. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, then transfer to a medium bowl. Let cool until warm, 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together both flours and the baking soda.

Into the cooled honey mixture, stir the fresh ginger, brown sugar and salt. Add the egg and whisk until well combined. Add the flour mixture and stir until no dry patches remain and the dough is well combined. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or up to 12 hours.

Heat the oven to 350°F with the racks in the upper and lower-middle positions. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with kitchen parchment.

Put the turbinado sugar in a small bowl. Pinch off 1-tablespoon bits from the chilled dough disk and roll them between the palms of your hands into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in the turbinado sugar to coat evenly. Divide the dough balls between the prepared baking sheets, spacing them evenly. Lightly press each one with your hand to flatten to a ¼-inch thickness.

Bake until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges and slightly cracked on top, 10 to 12 minutes, switching and rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.