Yum

I ain't buying Christmas presents this year (screw you, consumerism!), but baking loads of different types of biscuits to give instead, as much as time (and the kid) permits.

...and these are my favorites, our traditional type of biscuit indigenous to this place....quite peculiar things, flavoured by a mix of honey, black pepper, walnuts and spices.
And they're AWESOME and beyond!!

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PAPRENJAK
(pup-ren-yahk - "the peppery one")

(I've no idea if this is exactly how they're "supposed" to be done, the original recipe is hundreds of years old. We make them like this, and I believe it's close enough. )

DOUGH

250 grams butter
1 tablespoon fat/oil
250 grams sugar
250 grams honey
450 grams ground walnuts
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
5-6 pieces crushed cloves
knife-tip of allspice
grated rind of 1 lemon
1 kilo flour

DECORATIVE COATING

250 grams powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 egg-white

(for all you non-metric people, here's grams-to-ounces calculator: [link]
Also, 1 kilo = 2.2 lbs. )

WARNING: The number of cookies you get this way is HUGE - well over a hundred - so you may as well cut those quantities above in half if you want.

DOUGH PREPARATION:

1. Beat butter and fat/oil together till they reach foamy consistence. Add other ingredients, flour at the end.

2. Squish and squeeze the thing until it starts to fall off from your fingers. Takes a while, but it's darn worth it! Leave it sitting for 2 hours.

3. Roll the dough to ca. half a centimeter thickness. Use a glass or pre-shaped forms to cut out shapes.

4. Arrange on a slightly-oiled and very-thinly-flour-coated baking tray

5. Bake at 180°C. When they catch nice brownish colour, they're done.

COATING:

1. Mix the ingredients till it all reaches glue-like consistency.

2. Put it in a pastry bag and draw retarded shapes on biscuits.

WHEN THEY'RE DONE, ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING:

Let the coating dry, and put biscuits in a closed tin box - the best one for preserving flavour of any kind of biscuit, and, as hard as it may seem (because the smell will absolutely BEDAZZLE you), LEAVE THEM for 2-3 days.
Coz then they'l be even more awesome!

Go on, try....I guarantee you won't regret it!

Happy Holidays, people!