Pernicky are delicious Christmas cookies, baked in the Czech Republic, smelling of aromatic spices such as cloves, anise, and cinnamon. Decorated with sugar icing, pernicky are a staple on every Czech Christmas table!
½TablespoonCzech gingerbread spicesee list of spices above
Sugar icing:
½egg white
1cupicing sugar(130 g)
1Tablespoonpotato starch
Misc.:
1egg yolkto brush baked pernicky cookies for a shiny look
Instructions
Grind the gingerbread spices, remove larger particles, or sift the mixture through a coarse sieve. Melt the butter and possibly the honey if it is granulated.
Mix flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. Sift these dry ingredients through a sieve into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, ground spices, eggs, melted butter, and honey.
First, use a fork to mix the ingredients until compact chunks form. Then carefully dump the mass onto the work surface and work it by hand into a smooth, lightly sticky dough.
Wrap the pernicky dough in cling film and leave it to rest in the fridge overnight.
Roll out the rested dough on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of about ⅛ inch. Cut out any shapes from the dough, carefully scoop them up with a pastry spatula and transfer them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C) and bake the pernicky cookies for 8-10 minutes. The baking time depends on the cookie size; smaller ones need less time, while larger shapes will require a minute or two longer in the oven.
If you want gingerbread cookies with a shiny surface, prepare the egg yolk in a bowl and beat it with a fork. As soon as you take the cookies out of the oven, brush them thinly with a yolk. Because the gingerbread is hot, the egg yolk will firm up and create a glossy layer.
Prepare the sugar icing. Sift the icing sugar and potato starch into the bowl. Add the egg white and mix well. The result should be a thick glaze that, when you scoop it with a spoon, doesn't run off the spoon but falls off in chunks.
Pour the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a #2 or #3 piping tip and decorate the gingerbread cookies to your liking. Allow the cookies with icing to dry overnight before placing the cookies in the box.
Notes
Makes about 30 pernicky cookies (depends on their size)
STORAGE: When removed from the oven, the pernicky cookies are crispy. To soften, they need to rest in a paper box, closed with a lid. Line the paper box with kitchen paper towels and stack the gingerbread in it. Cover the box with the cookies and store them in a cool, dark place. The paper box is breathable, so the gingerbread gets the moisture it needs to soften.
If you want soft pernicky for Christmas, bake them 3-4 weeks in advance and store them as described above.
The most popular gingerbread cookie cutters in the Czech Republic include star, comet, gingerbread man, bell, Christmas tree, angel, or fish shapes.