PERNIK: Czech-style gingerbread but better! / PERNIK: lepsi nez gingerbread!
March 15, 2008
Pernik (Czech-style gingerbread) has been considered a fancy pastry ever since its beginnings and used to be prepared only for special occasions. Where did pernik come from? No one really knows…some sources point to the ancient Greece and Egypt where it was used as a sacrificial food for various gods. The first pernik was more of a honey-sweetened bread than how it is known today. In the Czech Republic the word “pernik” was first documented in 1335 in the town of Trutnov. The Mid devil pernik recipe called sometimes for more than 90 different types of spices! The most expensive pernik was made with honey - hence the name - the “white” pernik. In the 18th century the bakers were making 4 types of pernik:
- Marcipan
- Pernik
- Cerne sisky (black clumps) - used as a sweetener
- Druberka - was not meant for eating; used as a cheap substitute for children toys
The most famous Czech pernik comes from the Czech town Pardubice - the pernik “headquarters”:)
Ingredience:
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup black coffee
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 cup butter
1 cup light molasses
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
Enough flour to make a FIRM dough
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Combine all ingredients, adding enough flour to make a dough firm enough to roll out.
2. Turn out on a floured board and roll out to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with various cutters–a heart, animals, gingerbread men.
3. Place on cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven until firm to the touch, about 15-20 minutes.
4. When cooled, you may decorate pernik using the cake decorator with a butter frosting in various colors.
Source:
http://www.recipelink.com/mf/3/10550
http://yerno.webgarden.cz/historie-perniku
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How come, that “Pernik” (or “piernik” in Polish) is a “Czech-style ginger bread”, if the world’s capital city of this pastry is Torun, a medieval city of German (Teutonic) origin in the northern part of Poland?:-)
umm, sorry, but “Pernik” (in Polish “piernik”) is rather a pastry of German origin, and it’s world capital city is Torun,a medieval city in the northern Poland, which is also a hometown of Nicholas Kopernik:-)
HI Slawek,
I am not saying that Pernik was originated in Czech, I am just simply stating that it first APPEARED in Czech around 1335, that’s all. I am sure that “all roads lead to Poland”, including the road of Pernik creation:)
Hello Tanja,
You might be right, because even the homepage of the “Kopernik” pastry manufacturer says, that the first notes about “piernik/pernik” in Torun are dated from 1380 - a few dozen of years since 1335
http://www.kopernik.com.pl/index2.php?id=historia&jezyk=2
Maybe not “all roads lead to Poland” but for sure we (CZ and PL) have a lot in common, though we are not aware of this:)
PS: sorry for the double posting, the comment didn’t show up