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Traditional Polish Christmas Gingerbread (Piernik staropolski)

Polish gingerbread

In today’s busy world, I find comfort in returning to old traditions. Before starting a food blog I’ve never made maturing gingerbread, called Piernik staropolski in Poland. Now I enjoy starting prepping for Christmas mid-November with a traditional recipe.
If you want to enjoy this special treat for Christmas, it’s best to start the dough around November 11th. This recipe reminds us that good things take time to grow and get better.

The History of Piernik in Poland

Poland has a long and proud tradition of making gingerbread. If you love gingerbread and are planning to visit Poland, don’t miss Toruń, the gingerbread capital of the country and home to some of the oldest recipes and bakeries.

Why Make Piernik Staropolski?

The slow maturing process makes this cake moist and full of warm, delicious spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Piernik is a must-have on Polish Christmas tables and a wonderful way to slow down and enjoy the festive season.

Tips for Perfect Polish Piernik:

  • Use a gingerbread spice mix that doesn’t include cocoa or flour for the best flavor.
  • Be patient! Don’t rush the maturing process. This is what makes it special. If you want a quicker recipe, I will share one that doesn’t need maturing soon.
  • Spread plum jam on the layers. This classic Polish addition perfectly balances the spices.

Traditional Polish Christmas Gingerbread

Traditional Polish gingerbread (Piernik staropolski) is a moist, spiced cake filled with honey, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, lovingly matured for weeks to bring out deep flavor and festive warmth

Recipe from Moje Wypieki

Ingredients

  • 250 g honey
  • 200 g (1 cup) caster sugar
  • 125 g butter
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 cup cold milk
  • 500 g (4 cups) all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 35 g gingerbread spice mix (try to use one that doesn’t have cocoa or flour)
  • 200 g jar plum jam, for a spread

Directions

Mix honey, sugar, and butter in a saucepan until the mixture starts to simmer and the sugar dissolves entirely. Let it cool. Dissolve the baking soda in milk. Add flour, milk and baking soda mixture, eggs, salt, and gingerbread spice mix to a mixing bowl. Start mixing, gradually add the cooled honey mixture. Mix until smooth. It will be quite sticky at this point. Place the dough into a glass or ceramic container, cover with a tea towel, and store in the fridge for 4-6 weeks (2 weeks will do as well).

5-6 days before Christmas

Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and roll it out into even rectangles about 0.5cm thick.(You may need to leave it first at room temperature for an hour, as the dough hardens during maturing and may be a little bit difficult to handle.) Preheat the oven to 325ºF/170ºC/160ºC fan. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Leave it to cool. Place the first gingerbread layer and cover it with half of the plum jam. Place the second layer and cover it with the remaining jam. Place the last layer at the top. Wrap it with parchment paper, put something heavy on top like a wooden cutting board, and leave for 3-4 days to allow flavours to mature. Cover the cake with icing or chocolate ganache.

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40 responses to “Traditional Polish Christmas Gingerbread (Piernik staropolski)”

  1. Canal Cook Avatar
    Canal Cook

    I love gingerbread. Hopefully will find the time to make this before its too late. A lot of Danish Christmas desserts are the same, you have to make them weeks and weeks in advance so I did that last year

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Really? Do you have any recipes? How did you like them? Was it worth it?
      I have a Danish friend, but I haven’t heard about maturing cakes, only standard cookies.

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  2. Lebkuchen - Magda's Cauldron Avatar
    Lebkuchen – Magda's Cauldron

    […] recipes (and only one type disappeared before I managed to take photos of them), I’ve made maturing gingerbread cake and I’m almost falling into sugar coma. But I guess it’s all good news for you, we […]

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  3. Joanna Avatar
    Joanna

    This year for the very first time I am going to make gingerbread cookies, although reading your post I am too late:) this sounds really nice. I will keep you posted on the results…

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      I know, it’s an awful recipe that requires planning ahead. Bea (from http://beawkuchni.com/) always does reminder that’s about time to make a dough for gingerbread. I want to fill it in with marzipan and jam 😀

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  4. David G Young Avatar
    David G Young

    Thank you for the recipe and thank you for writing it in metric! :)###<=?

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    1. David G Young Avatar
      David G Young

      I presume your cup measurement is 1 cup = 250 ml. Is it?

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      1. Magda Avatar
        Magda

        Yes, David. I use European cups, so 1 cup is always 250 ml. Let me know how did you like the recipe 🙂

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      2. David G Young Avatar
        David G Young

        I’m making all 12 dishes this year, and I’ve been discussing the two rival gingerbread opinions with some of my students. The predominant view is that the gingerbread is baked and then stored for ages beforehand. I’m a little wary of that, as I associate that more with fruitcakes like traditional UK Christmas cakes. I’m going to try yours, with the rival strategy of storing the unbaked dough for a few weeks, instead. I’ll let you know after the 24th of December how it went. Thanks again for the recipe.

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      3. Magda Avatar
        Magda

        Oh wow. Good luck David. That’s a nice challenge.
        Gingerbread stores really well, and especially when it comes to gingerbread cookies it is recommended to bake them a few weeks before Christmas so they have time to soften and develop their flavours. As you will layer the gingerbread with jam it will need less time soften.
        I really hope you like it 🙂

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  5. David G Young Avatar
    David G Young

    By the way, what oven temperature should I use? I can’t find one in the recipe.

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Good catch David. I’ve added in. You should bake in 170ºC/160ºC fan.

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      1. David G Young Avatar
        David G Young

        Thanks.

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  6. galia Avatar
    galia

    Hello, Magda! I love traditional polish ginger bread cookies, but it’s a rear treat here in the states. I tried some recipes before but all of the resulting products were just regular cookies.. this post offers hope 🙂 you said you made ginger bread cookies before, did you post that recipe? or do you think i could use this dough for cookies?
    Btw did you have pictures of this cake?
    Thanks!
    Galia

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Hi Galia,
      I want to make gingerbread cookies probably over the weekend. So far I didn’t post any recipe. I want to try ones that you can’t eat straight away and you don’t have to wait. I hope they will turn out lovely and I can post them on the blog. Yes, you can use this recipe to make cookies, just remember to bake them a few days before you plan to eat them as they maybe very hard at first.
      Yes, I do have a photo of the cake, I will add it to the post in few minutes.
      Enjoy!

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  7. galia Avatar
    galia

    Oh my god it looks professional and so good! Thanks for the recipe and the picture! Will be checking back for the Pierniczki recipe 🙂 I wish I could pay back with a recipe or 2 but I am a dummy.
    Oh, here is a link on one of the most popular blocks with russian traditional sweets, i don’t know if you are interested, but just in case you are 🙂
    http://chadeyka.livejournal.com/ (just use translator in your browser 😉
    Thanks again!

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Aww thank you Galia, but it’s actually really easy to make it look professional, as you can to cut the edges of the cake.
      I think I saw that blog, my favourite Polish blogger used some of recipes from there. I will have look anyway 🙂 Good luck with pierniczki, let me know how it goes.

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  8. Thalia @ butter and brioche Avatar
    Thalia @ butter and brioche

    This gingerbread looks incredible… and the layers are seriously perfect! I can imagine it tastes delicious too, pinned!

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Thank you Thalia. The layers aren’t actually even, but shhhh… 😉

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  9. galia Avatar
    galia

    Just made the dough! So exited! Have a couple questions here. So.. my dough is a little too spicy.. like a little too gingery.. does the flavor stays the same over time or does it change?It smells awesome and the color is great but I am afraid that the spices are not exactly what they were supposed to be.. And another question how did you keep the towel on place? did the dough dry out on top?
    Wow this recipe is unbelievable really!

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Did you added more spices? Or they were super fresh? I don’t remember how my dough did taster when it was fresh, but the flavours should blend together while the dough develops. You can always put the rubber around the towel to make it stay in place. I had the dough in the drawer and the towel just stayed on the top. Yes, the dough will get very hard and it will dry out a little.
      I’m glad you like it 🙂 I just hope you will like the end result.

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      1. galia Avatar
        galia

        They turned out really good! I used apple butter(no sugar – quite sour) for the filling and melted dark chocolate for covering, delicious! Melt in the mouth! My friends didn’t believe that I made them 🙂 Btw I used pirogy maker and it works great. Will make them again next year.
        Thanks, thanks, thanks for sharing!

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      2. Magda Avatar
        Magda

        I’m so happy for you Galia. Those are the best moments of blogging. Have a great New Year!

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  10. Debbie Avatar
    Debbie

    What do you recommend for the gingerbread spice mix? Can you tell my about how much of each spice? I’m assuming ginger, cinnamon, etc.? Also, I see more than jam in one layer! What is it? Thanks!

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Hi Debbie,
      I often use this recipe. You will get best result by using whole spices and grounding them just before mixing it together. This makes a quite big portion, so feel free to divide, or skip some spices if you don’t have them.
      The other layer has jam and marzipan. I will add it to the recipe 🙂

      Mix 50g ground cinnamon, 20g ground ginger, 15g ground cloves, 15g ground cardamom, 10g grated nutmeg, 10g ground allspice, 10g ground black pepper, 5g ground anise

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  11. Adam Avatar
    Adam

    Hi Magda,

    Can you use this recipe just to make biscuits (cookies), without doing the layering into a cake and jam etc.?

    Thanks,

    Adam

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Hi Adam,
      Yes, you can make cookies with them. If you have time you can also stuff them with jam. Take a look at photos on the blog http://www.mojewypieki.com/przepis/pierniczki-nadziewane.
      Good luck.

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      1. Adam Avatar
        Adam

        Thanks Magda, they look great! I’ve just made a batch of dough up for a test run in a few weeks time. I’m definitely going to put jam in them, and I love the idea of spraying them gold!

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      2. Magda Avatar
        Magda

        Yay! Now you just have to wait 🙂

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  12. John Graham Avatar
    John Graham

    Hi I’m a retired teacher living in Poland and I enjoy cooking. Thank you for the gingerbread recipes but also for your site which I think is excellent . You have chiosen your recipes well, I trust them and will be back for more . Wszystkiego dobrego w nowym roku.

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  13. David Young Avatar
    David Young

    Dziękuję Bardzo Magda!

    Thank you very much for the recipe. For the last two Christmases, 2014 and ’15, I have made all twelve dishes for visiting members of my family. Your gingerbread recipe was a resounding success.

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  14. Sauv Avatar
    Sauv

    Magda, how many cookies does this recipe make please?

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Sauv, I must say I don’t have a clue. I only made a cake from it. I think the pan I used was 20x20cm and you get three thick layers of gingerbread. Hope that helps.

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    2. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Sauv, I don’t have a clue, I only made a cake out of it.

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  15. Brigitte Avatar
    Brigitte

    I made this for Christmas and it was delicious, thank you Magda:)

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Brigitte, happy to hear it 🙂

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  16. Leslie Esposito Avatar
    Leslie Esposito

    Can this recipe be used to make cookies, too?

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      Yes. I’ve never done it, but I know others do it.

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  17. Mary Abramczyk Avatar
    Mary Abramczyk

    Hello, I’m looking forward to making this recipe into chocolate dipped cookies and to use in moczka. I just made a spice mix but an nervous about the gr to tbsp, as I am using a basic gram scale that should be weighing hundreds of grams, not single grams. Even searching online, there’s no agreement on this calculation. Can you suggest how many tbsp/tsp to use for this recipe? Thank you!

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    1. Magda Avatar
      Magda

      I would go with 10 teaspoons. I base my calculations on flour teaspoon to grams converter. It’s a lot of spice 🙂 With this measure, you don’t have to be perfect, just close enough 🙂

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