These are the hungarian gingerbread cookies. They are spicy and sweet and soft, perfect for the festive season.
So in Hungary we make these cookies as gingerbread, and actually people usually translate the name of these cookies to gingerbread but they are not the same. If we want to translate the hungarian name to english they would be honey cookies. Because we use honey instead of molasses, so they are not the same. And I have to admit that I have never eaten real gingerbread cookies because it’s really hard to find molasses here. But it’s on my bucket list to make them.
I think every family has their own gingerbread/honey christmas cookie recipe. And this is our version. We bake these cookies every christmas and then we decorate them together.
They are soft, spicy, sweet and moist and sooo christmasy. Like thes cookies are instant Christmas in a bite size cookie. So I would really, really recommend you to try out these hungarian „gingerbread” cookies. And then you can write me what’s the difference between the real gingerbread and the hungarian ones.
By the way they are so easy to make you don’t need any mixer just a wooden spoon or spatula and your hands. You can make the dough a lot of time ahead and then put it in the freezer and take it out any time when you need some instant Christmas cookies.
And they are really customizable. You can use any kind of cookie cutter, you can push some nuts on the top of them before baking, sprinkle them with sprinkles or decorate them with royal icing. They would be so cute handmade Christmas gifts too.
So what are you still doing infront of your laptop/computer/phone or any kind of screen? Go and bake some honey christmas cookies!
P.S.: Yes, I know. I am a "professional" cookie decorator. :D
Honey Christmas Cookies
Prep Time: 10 min. Baking Time: 10 min. Total Time: 2 hours Portions: 3-4 batches
Ingredients:
Cookies:
3/4 cup or 170g butter, melted
½ cup honey
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 and ½ cups or 350g all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 and ½ teaspoons gingerbread spice*
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
*You can make your own. Mix together 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves and 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg.
Royal Icing:(optional)
1 egg white
2,5-3 cups confectioner sugar
Directions:
In a large microwave-safe bowl melt the butter. Add the honey and sugar and mix them well together.
In a small bowl beat the egg with a fork until fluffy.
Add the beaten egg to the butter mixture.
In a seperate medium sized bowl mix together the flour, the spices, the salt, the baking powder and the baking soda.
Add the flour mixture into the butter in two batches. First use a fork or a spoon to mix them together and then your hands to form a disk. Cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for one and a half hour.
Preheat your oven to 350 F or 180 C. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll out the dough on a well floured surface to around ½-1 cm thick. (Make sure you use enough flour and the dough is cold because it can be very sticky.) Use cookie cutters and cut out cookies. You can always re-roll the dough but if it’s getting warmer and sticky put it back to the fridge for 10 minutes.
Place the cookies on the baking sheet leaving around 2 cm between them. Bake them for 8-10 minutes, or until they are golden brown on the edges, but still soft a little bit. The cookies will set as they cool down.
If you want to decorate the cookies. In a small bowl mix together the egg white and the confectioner sugar. Start to add around 1 cup sugar first, then add a little bit more until you get a white not to runny mixture. Put the mixture into a plastic bag or a piping bag with a tiny round tip. If you use a plastic bag cut a really small hole in one of the corners. Draw with the icing any kind of design and let them dry completly before storing them in an air tight container.
