Polish Gingerbread Biscuits

Ren Behan

Christmas biscuits

Behan Bring in Christmas early with this traditional Polish biscuit that gets more flavoursome over time

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Servings

50 Servings

Prep time

20 Minutes

Cooking Time

7 Minutes

Calories

--- Kcal

Ingredients

  • 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

Candied orange peel

  • oranges 2
  • granulated sugar 250g
  • water 375ml

Glaze

  • dark chocolate 300g (orange chocolate also works well)
  • white chocolate 300g
  • poppy seeds 2 tsp

Directions

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Heat your oven to 160°C fan.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Repeat with the second ball of dough, this time cutting out star shapes, and baking them, again, in batches for 7 minutes.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.

Notes

  1. You can make the dough ahead, and freeze it, wrapped in clingfilm, for up to 2 months.