Panyanky (панянки, painted figure cookies)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •A medium saucepan for the honey syrup
• •A wide mixing bowl and wooden spoon
• •Rolling pin and parchment-lined sheet pans
• •Paper templates or cookie cutters
• •Small brushes, piping bags, or a toothpick for painting

Instructions

1. 1

   Warm the syrup

   Put the honey, sugar, water, spices, and salt in a saucepan over low heat. Warm gently, stirring, until the sugar has melted and the smell changes from sharp spice to round honey cake. Do not let it boil angrily; a few lazy bubbles at the edge are enough. Take it off the heat, stir in the sunflower oil, then the baking soda. It will foam and sigh. Let it cool until warm to the touch.

   If the syrup is hot enough to sting your finger, wait. Hot syrup grabs flour into lumps, and these cookies need a smooth face for painting.
2. 2

   Mix the dough

   Tip 600g flour into a wide bowl and pour in the warm syrup. Stir with a wooden spoon until shaggy, then knead by hand, adding only enough extra flour to make a smooth dough that feels like soft clay. It should be warm, slightly shiny, and willing to hold a fingerprint without sticking to you.

   Flour is the step that forgives least if you panic. A softer dough can rest into shape; a dry one cracks when you cut the ladies' skirts and birds' wings.
3. 3

   Rest the dough

   Oil the dough lightly, wrap it, and leave it at cool room temperature for at least 4 hours, or overnight in the fridge. If it has chilled hard, give it time on the counter before rolling. When it is ready, the graininess will be gone and a small piece rolled between your palms will smooth out instead of splitting. This rest is not decoration. It lets the syrup hydrate the flour so the figures keep their outlines in the oven.

4. 4

   Cut the figures

   Heat the oven to 180C and line two trays with parchment. Roll the dough 5 to 6mm thick on a lightly floured surface, then cut little ladies, horses, birds, riders, stars, or whatever your household will recognize as festive. Lift the shapes with a palette knife and set them on the trays with a little room between them.

   No special cutters are required. Cut paper templates from a cereal box, lay them on the dough, and trace around them with a small knife dipped in flour.
5. 5

   Bake gently

   Bake one tray at a time until the tops turn matte, the edges feel set, and the underside is pale golden, 9 to 12 minutes for small shapes and a few minutes more for large ones. Pull them before they brown deeply. The red coat brings the color; the cookie underneath should stay honey-gold and tender-firm. Cool completely on a rack.

6. 6

   Glaze them red

   Sift 220g icing sugar into a bowl and stir in 2 tablespoons beetroot juice, cranberry juice, or water, plus enough red colour to make a clear festive red. The glaze should run off the spoon in a ribbon, not splash like water. Brush a thin coat over the cooled cookies, tops and edges, and let them dry until the shine dulls to satin.

   Two thin coats are better than one puddle. Beetroot powder gives a softer brick red; gel colouring gives the bright village-fair red many people remember now.
7. 7

   Paint and dry

   Mix the remaining icing sugar with aquafaba or water and the lemon juice until it holds a line. Divide a little into bowls if you want yellow and green details. Pipe or paint collars, braids, bridles, wings, dots, and cuffs over the dry red glaze. Let the cookies dry uncovered for at least 3 hours, or overnight, before stacking them in a tin.

   A piping bag is useful, but a toothpick and a small clean brush will do the work. Panyanky are hand cookies. They should look touched by a person.

Chef Tips

• •The red can be practical. Gel colouring gives the bright holiday colour people expect now; beetroot powder gives a softer, earthier red. Both keep the tradition working in a modern kitchen.
• •Stop adding flour before the dough feels dry. It should feel like soft clay, not shortbread. Rest will firm it more than you think.
• •For Christmas-fast baking, use aquafaba or water for the icing, not egg white. Egg-white royal icing sets harder and is a bit more modern here, useful if you are sending the cookies by post.
• •Cutters are lovely, but templates are enough. The old logic is figure, color, gift, not perfect factory edges.
• •Store the dried cookies in a tin for 3 to 4 weeks. If they go harder than you like, tuck in a strip of apple peel overnight, then remove it before it makes anything damp.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough is best after an overnight rest, and it can sit wrapped in the fridge for up to 2 days before rolling.
• •The unpainted cookies can be baked 1 to 2 weeks ahead and kept in a tin, then glazed and painted closer to the holiday.
• •Painted panyanky need several hours to dry before stacking. Once dry, they keep 3 to 4 weeks in a tin at cool room temperature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 55g)