I tell you a secret, I’m not a big fan of homemade Polish gingerbread cookies, they always were too dry for me, but the store-bought ones are a different story – soft and light, filled with jam, or not. This recipe really delivers, it promises light and easy gingerbread cookies, almost like the store-bought. If you cover them with chocolate and pack them, nobody would notice, they are homemade. For ones, it will be an advantage, for others the opposite. Pick your side 😉
Polish Alpine gingerbread cookies (pierniczki jak alpejskie)
They are also perfect for filling them with jam or marzipan.
Recipe adapted from Moje wypieki
- 500g plain flour
- 4 egg yolks
- 3 egg whites
- 3/4 cup caster sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa
- 100ml sour cream, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp gingerbread spice mix
- 125g butter
- 200g honey
A day ahead
Sift cocoa and flour to a large bowl, set aside.
Place honey in a medium pot. Add spices, stir and bring it to boil. Remove from heat and add butter, you can stir it until it melts. Leave the mixture to cool.
In a small bowl mix baking soda and sour cream. It will rise a little bit.
In a separate bowl whip 2 egg whites until stiff (you will use the third one as an egg wash).
Gradually add the caster sugar still beating, then add egg yolks until it combines well.
Carefully fold in the egg mixture to the flour. Add the honey and stir.
Finally, mix the sour cream in.
The dough will be quite sticky, and it needs to chill at least 12 hours in the fridge.
Baking time
Preheat an oven to 180°C/160°C fan.
Roll out dough on floured surface 0.5-cm thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter.
Place cookies on parchment lined baking sheet leaving some space between. Brush with beaten egg white.
Bake in the preheated oven for around 7-12 minutes.
Cool slightly on wire rack.
Cover with icing sugar or chocolate.
Magda's Cauldron 
These came out amazing! I have been looking for a Polish pierniczki recipe because I love the store-bought ones. I followed the recipe as given except I did change the method. I didn’t see the point of whipping egg whites since the dough would be rolled out anyway (I thought this would remove the air added by whipping the whites). Also, I mixed baking soda with the flour mixture instead of neutralizing it in the sour cream, which I assumed would release precious CO2 bubbles that I wanted to stay in the dough. I was very pleased with the soft texture of the baked cookie. Thank you for sharing.
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