Mom’s Pryaniki Cookies (Video Tutorial)
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It’s been months since I’ve posted a video. :-O. Bad, bad v-logger. I felt a little rusty but I’m so happy to finally share another video with y’all. This recipe is special to me. My Mama made this for us as kids and still makes these cookies. They are always a treat.
I first posted this recipe 4 1/2 years ago and my picture (singular, as in only one) was pretty shabby and the instructions needed fine tuning. I’ve had several requests over the years to make a video for this recipe, so here it is.
I hope you enjoy love these as much as we do. They’re kind of irresistible… About 10 of them mysteriously disappeared before the filming was over?? Weeeird!
Click here to print the recipe for pryaniki.
Watch How To Make Mom’s Pryaniki:
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Hi Natasha I’d love to try this out but i don’t have sour cream here can i use buttermilk because for some of your cakes i used it and it tuned out wonderful.
Hi Ranuth, I havne’t tried without sour cream, but here’s what one of our readers wrote: “I only had 8oz of sour cream so I added 8oz of cottage cheese to the recipe! Turned out the same.. maybe even better 🙂 thanks for the great recipe! 🙂” I hope this helps.
Hi Nnatasha, can you make this cookie dough the night before and chill it in the fridge before baking the next day??
Hi Anna, I honestly haven’t tested that to advise. If you experiment please let me know how you like the recipe.
Love these cookies…About to be making some for like the 10th time. My family loves them. Thank you for the recipe 🙂
That’s so great! That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Hi there natasha darlin hope that you are having a really great summer so far made these cookies yesterday special to kick off the 9 days and wow they are a really big hit even my mom was in heaven and mind you she’s so not a major mint fan and also my dad and I really liked them I even had second one was almost gonna go for a third but it was really late @ night and had to stop myself these are just really yummy delish and so very addictive too I gave a small ziploc baggie to my great aunt shirley who loves most of my homemade goodies thanx so much for the video tutorial that was really super helpful will definitely be making these again for another occasion btw I have an extra bag in the freezer again thanx so much for all your fun cool awesome wholesome recipes girlfriend can’t wait for more have a really great super cool day and week ahead cheers
What an amazing review! Thanks for following and taking the time to leave such thoughtful comments, Tzivia! Thank you for sharing this with us.
I can just picture myself coming home from school as a kid and these would be in the kitchen waiting for us ❤️ now I will be making them for my kids! Thank you
What a sweet memory! I hope your family loves this recipe.
I recently made these for a wedding and they turned out great and delicious! The only thing I added was silver sugar sprinkles since that was the wedding color. So I glazed the bottom first and then the tops and immediately after glazing the tops and before they dried I sprinkled them! Turned out gorgeous
That sounds so fancy!
Their’re really good and this recipe is so easy and simple,but at the same time so delicious. I’m making this recipe for an school activity and I think they will love it😍❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️
Thank you for this incredible recipe.
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it
These turned out so good. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. You are so talented and I’m looking forward to making some of your other recipes.
Thank you for the great review! I hope you find many new favorites!
these were my first attempt at making pryaniki and this recipe was so easy to follow, they turned out to be everything you had promised and taste so good that we only have 6 left from yesterday. my 3 year old frosted them and loved being the helper. we don’t have a russian store where i live so this was a treat!! i love recipes that have simple ingredients that are already in my pantry and these were a spur of a moment thing so thank you for making my family happy. God bless you my friend.
i didn’t have peppermint extract so i added a little bit of orange extract and they were amazing!
I LOVE that idea. I think I’ll try that next time I make these cookies! 🙂
Thank you Tanya, you’re so sweet. God bless you too! I’m so happy you loved the recipe. I can just imagine you making these with your little helper. 🙂
I have been looking for praniki recipe for a long time. As soon as I saw your recipe I had to give it a try. And Once again….You did it!! Thank you, Very good cookies. Kids loved making them, frosting them and of course eating them. Thank you for the video, and detailed directions. I will defiantly make these again.
Awww that’s so awesome! I’m smiling big. Thank you Inessa 🙂
These pryaniki are amazing. And they taste even better the next day. It is hard to keep them until the next day though. Thank you so much for this recipe. Can’t wait to make them again. Next on my list is Apple Crumb Cake
I know what you mean, especially if I invite my sisters over. The cookies are gone in no time! 😉 I’m so glad you enjoyed them 🙂
when it comes to the dough part, why is it crumblyish instead of sticky???
What kind of flour did you use? It definitely shouldn’t be crumbly, but sticky. If it is crumbly, there is probably way too much flour. Did you measure flour the recommended way? Did you watch the video? Is there anything else you could have done differently? I hope we can figure it out 🙂
yea i put about 3-4 cups of flour.. i used regular white enriched bleached flour.
One question PLZ!!!! So can i just omit the peppermint extract??? I never actually tried pryaniki with peppermint!! Can you really taste it in these pryaniki??thanks!!!
It gives a nice flavor to the glaze so you can definitely taste it when you take a bite. You can omit it or use a different extract; the possibilities are many 🙂
These cookies look wonderful, family recipes are the best!
Aren’t they? I’m so happy to be able to learn from my Mama 🙂
These turned out great and the video was helpful especially with regards to spreading on the glaze. Having only ever eaten store-bought priyaniki (honestly never considered you could make them at home), I was amazed at how soft these were, even the next day. My family said, “как в кондитерской!”
Polina, thank you very much for a great feedback :), your comment is music to my ears.
Natasha I made these today and these are wonderful everytime I make your recipes I know they will turn out amazing, these are so simple yet so delicious. Thanks for the video tutorial!! I loved these pryaniki they are delicious!
Ira, thank you very much for a great review, I’m glad that you enjoyed them and you are welcome :).
Of course you could use a brush to spread the glaze, but what fun would that be? I bet kids would like to get dirty glazing these 😀
Yeah except they might be eating the glaze more than spreading it! 😉
You are so nice Natasha:) Really appreciate your time for this perfect video:)) I can now make this for my father:) I am a big fun of yours. This weekend I am going to make Tres leches for my family and next weekend I will definitely try this because my daughter loves pryaniki too. Thank you
That’s awesome! Thank you for your sweet and encouraging comment. This was a tough video to shoot; I felt so out of practice. My patient husband deserves a medal. Lol
Those people who don’t like peppermint, can add mint flavor instead. It’s very good! The bottle that mint extract come in, use it’s little cap to measure out how much to add into the pryaniki.:) My recipe is exactly like yours Natasha and I have been making it for 24 years. Whenever I make it, everyone asks for recipe. My family loves them so much that when it’s their Birthday, they don’t want a cake, they just ask me to make pryaniki.:)
It must be an old Ukrainian recipe. My mom had it hand-written in her cookbook that she’s had for ages! 🙂 I love these cookies!
Great job on the video. The cookies looks delicious as all your recipes do! 🙂
Thank you Olga for the great feedback :).
These are Ukrainian doughnuts 😉
And they aren’t fried. Score! 🙂
Thanks For the great recipe ! could you add other flavor to the glaze instead of the peppermint?
Yes you can use pretty much any extract you like; lemon, orange, coffee,… so many possibilities! 🙂
I only had 8oz of sour cream so I added 8oz of cottage cheese to the recipe! Turned out the same.. maybe even better 🙂 thanks for the great recipe! 🙂
That’s great to know next time I’m low on sour cream! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂 Did you mash up the cottage cheese or leave the curds in there?
I’ve never made pryaniki at home. Thank you for this great video and recipe! I will have to try it sometime. Thank you, Natasha!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the video and I hope you love these cookies! They aren’t complicated but they are a nice treat at home 🙂
I add more flour into the batter, until I can roll the dough and use cookie cutters. I also like to make them without the frosting, and freeze half the batch. You take ’em out, and they taste as if you just made them. Great for road trips, as they don’t crumble like normal cookies do. For those who are not used to pryaniki, they are a more dense (but soft!) cookie, kind of like shortbread… VERY delicious 🙂
Do you still form them like pryaniki with that much flour? Do they still rise ok?
Yes, they rise perfectly. You need to make the dough the right consistency. Sticky still, but firm just enough to roll out and use cookie cutters. Not too sticky, not too firm.
Thank you very much for a wonderfull food and cookie and recipe. My daughter love your web page. She love to cook and bake. Every time she’s baking and it’s perfect.
Thank you and May God Bless you and your family.
Any chance you know how to bake a пироженное картошка?
That’s so awesome! Thanks for sharing that with me; it’s music to my ears 🙂 I don’t have a recipe for пироженное картошка yet but I will be on the lookout for a good one. Thanks for the suggestion 🙂
My son was asking me last night to make him cookies when he would get home today. When I saw the post I knew I had to run to the store to grab a few ingredients that I didn’t have at home. The one thing I would omit is the peppermint extract. It’s a little to strong for my taste buds so I had to add fresh lemon zest and vanilla extract to balance out the flavor. Other than that, it turned out really good!
Thank you!
I’m so glad you liked the cookies!! 🙂 thanks for a great review!
Love this video! You really make it look so easy that I want to try to make them – thanks!
Thanks Andi 🙂 I’m always hoping that I don’t complicate things 🙂
I’ve never had homemade pryaniki – we always bought them at the store. Yours look so refined, love how perfect the glaze is. Thanks for reminding me about one more food I almost forgot about. 🙁
They really were pretty easy and so nice when they are fresh and homemade. Our cultures culinary background is so diverse, it’s so easy to forget certain things. Pretty often, my readers ask about Russian/Ukrainian dishes I’ve never even heard of! 🙂
Great Video!!! You make it look so quick and simply. Love those- will be trying out the recipe as soon as I get all the ingredients. Thank you for your blog- I check it almost everyday to see new posts or to read your older ones.
You’re so sweet Mariya and I’m so happy to hear that you are enjoying the blog and recipes! 🙂