Medovníky: soft Christmas honey cookies with egg white icing

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. Melt the honey with the butter

   Heat the honey and butter in a small pot over low heat until the butter has melted. Do not boil the mixture. Remove it from the heat and let it cool until lukewarm.

2. Make the dough

   Sift the flour with the baking soda, gingerbread spice and cocoa into a bowl, add the powdered sugar, and mix. Pour in the lukewarm honey mixture, add the eggs, and knead into a stiff, smooth dough.

   If the dough crumbles at first, knead it with warm hands until it comes together.

3. Let the dough rest

   Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it until the next day.

   Before rolling it out, take it out of the refrigerator and leave it at room temperature for about 60 minutes to soften.

4. Roll out and cut

   Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F), conventional (top and bottom heat), and line the baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide the dough into smaller portions and roll them out on a floured surface to a thickness of about 4 mm.

   Cut out shapes and place them on the baking sheet about 2 cm apart. Brush the tops with beaten egg.

5. Bake

   Bake one sheet at a time for 7–9 minutes, depending on the size of the shapes, until the cookies puff up slightly and turn lightly brown on the bottom. Do not bake them any longer, or they will harden. Let them cool on a wire rack.

6. Make the icing and decorate

   Briefly beat the egg white with the lemon juice, then add the sifted powdered sugar a spoonful at a time until you have a thick, glossy icing that holds its shape. Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a small opening and decorate the cooled cookies.

   Let the icing dry at room temperature for 6–8 hours.

7. Let the cookies soften

   Put the decorated cookies into a metal tin, place several apple slices on a sheet of parchment paper between them, and close the tin. Replace the apple every 2–3 days. The cookies soften in about 1–2 weeks and then keep until Christmas.

Tip: Cover any icing you are not using with a damp cloth, because it hardens quickly in the air and the lumps would clog the piping bag. Roll out the dough scraps with as little flour as possible, and the cookies will stay softer.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Mäkké vianočné medovníky s bielkovou polevou