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This is exactly the way my mom makes this classic Russian/Ukrainian pryaniki cookie. Its a healthier cookie (absolutely no butter, margarine or shortening!!) The glaze is infused with peppermint making these unique and scrumptious. Let your kids raid the cookie jar for a change!
Pryaniki are soft cookies, almost like dense cake. It makes a wonderful tea cookie. Goes perfectly with a glass of milk.
Watch How To Make Mint Glaze Pryaniki:
Pryaniki Ingredients:
2 large egg yolks (reserve whites for frosting)
2 cups sugar
1 lb (2 cups) sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
*5 cups all-purpose flour, (or 4 1/2 cups if using Canadian flour) plus more flour for hands *measured correctly
*Tip for exact flour measuring: stir flour with a spoon, then spoon it into a dry ingredients measuring cup and scrape off the top with the back of a knife. If you just scoop your measuring cup directly into your flour, it will be more compact so you end up with more flour in your cup which can throw off your recipes.
* Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
Mint Glaze Ingredients:
2 large egg whites
2 cups powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
1 tsp pure peppermint extract
1 tsp lemon juice
What you will need:
Parchment paper to line cookie sheets
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
1. In a stand mixer, whisk together 2 egg yolks and 2 cups sugar until consistency of snow, whisk in 2 cups sour cream until creamy.
2. Put 1 tsp baking soda in a small ramekin and add about 1/2 teaspoon vinegar just to get it to bubble, mix it together slightly. Add to the mixing bowl.
3. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp vanilla extract then whisk everything together until well blended.
4. Using the dough hook, alowly add flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, so that it mixes more thoroughly. Dough will be very sticky.
5. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon of dough into a well floured hands and form into balls about the size of golf balls and slightly flatten.
6. Place the cookies on prepared cookie sheet. Bake at 350˚ F for 25-28 minutes (mine took 25 min), or until just barely beginning to golden. Remove immediately.
7. As soon as they come out of the oven, dip each cookie into the glaze (see instructions below) and spread the glaze evenly over the tops using your fingers to spread the glaze works best. After it is glazed, place cookie on a cool dry surface for the glaze to dry.
8. By the time you are finished glazing the tops, they will have hardened so you can start turning them over and glazing the bottoms. Make sure glaze completely covers the cookie, it will keep the cookie soft longer. The glaze should become firm quickly, then serve.
How to make Mint Glaze:
1.On high speed (speed 8 on kitchen aid) Beat together the egg whites until it is a thick foam and has tripled in volume (2-3 min).
2. Reduce speed to the lowest setting and add powdered sugar, lemon juice and peppermint extract until well blended. Scrape down the bowl as necessary using a spatula.
3. Set to medium speed (speed 4) for about 2 minutes until it is creamy. It mixes together quickly (do not beat the mixture too much or it will become watery)
Notes: not recommended for babies; raw egg white may irritate their skin, especially in children sensitive to egg.
Mom's Pryaniki with Mint Glaze Recipe - Пряники
Ingredients
Praniki Ingredients:
- 2 large egg yolks, reserve whites for frosting
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 lb 2 cups sour cream
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- *5 cups all-purpose flour, (or 4 1/2 cups if using Canadian flour) plus more flour for hands
Mint Glaze Ingredients:
- 2 large egg whites
- 2 cups powdered sugar, confectioners sugar
- 1 tsp pure peppermint extract
- 1 tsp lemon juice
What you will need:
- Parchment paper to line cookie sheets
Instructions
How to Make Praniki: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a stand mixer, whisk together 2 egg yolks and 2 cups sugar until consistency of snow, whisk in 2 cups sour cream until creamy.
- Put 1 tsp baking soda in a small ramekin and add about 1/2 teaspoon vinegar just to get it to bubble, mix it together slightly. Add to the mixing bowl.
- Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp vanilla extract then whisk everything together until well blended.
- Using the dough hook, alowly add flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, so that it mixes more thoroughly. Dough will be very sticky.
- Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon of dough into a well floured hands and form into balls about the size of golf balls and slightly flatten.
- Place the cookies on prepared cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 25-28 minutes (mine took 25 min), or until just barely beginning to golden. Remove immediately.
- As soon as they come out of the oven, dip each cookie into the glaze (see instructions below) and spread the glaze evenly over the tops using your fingers to spread the glaze works best. After it is glazed, place cookie on a cool dry surface for the glaze to dry.
- By the time you are finished glazing the tops, they will have hardened so you can start turning them over and glazing the bottoms. Make sure glaze completely covers the cookie, it will keep the cookie soft longer. The glaze should become firm quickly, then serve.
How to make Mint Glaze:
- On high speed (speed 8 on kitchen aid) Beat together the egg whites until it is a thick foam and has tripled in volume (2-3 min).
- Reduce speed to the lowest setting and add powdered sugar, lemon juice and peppermint extract until well blended. Scrape down the bowl as necessary using a spatula.
- Set to medium speed (speed 4) for about 2 minutes until it is creamy. It mixes together quickly (do not beat the mixture too much or it will become watery)
Notes
These are the perfect Pryaniki! For the holiday season I replaced some of the sugar for honey and added cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. I also replaced some of the flour for white whole wheat. The result was voted the best pryaniki we’ve ever had! I love the easy and detailed step-by-step instructions. Thank you!
That sounds lovely! Thank you for your great review!
Hi Natasha,
Can these cookies be frozen? If yes, any tips for freezing them?
Many thanks!
-lisa
Hi Lisa, I’ve never tried freezing them so can’t make a recommendation. I assume they freeze well, just not sure about the glaze. I will store them in a freezer friendly ziplock bag.
Hi again Natasha,
Just would like to update that I made this recipe and they’re truly delicious. My daughter doesn’t like peppermint so I used lemon zest instead for the glaze and it’s perfect.
I tried freezing some cookies too and they turned out fine.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
-lisa
My pleasure Lisa! I’m glad the recipe was a success. Thanks for sharing your great review!
Lisa, they freeze well. I take 2-3 at a time out as I live alone, leave at room temperature for few hours. They are also good if you put in the microwave for 5-10 sec, when short on time. It does not affect glaze, it’s still crunchy. If you microwave longer, it chips on the bottom.
I planned to reduce sugar to 1 cup but someone previously commented they turn out not very sweet. If I added honey instead, would it ruin the recipe? Thank you
Hi Rimma, that is true these are not overly sweet cookies. They are already lightly sweetened. I have not tested it with honey so I’m not sure if other substitutions would be needed to get the right dough consistency. I just haven’t experimented to be able to recommend it.
Thank you for your reply. I ended up using only 1 cup of sugar and 2 tbsp of honey and they turned out sooo good. Will definitely make them again. Thank you for the recipe.
You’re welcome Rimma! I’m glad to hear they turned out well! 🙂
Thank you Natasha for the recipe. I am so happy to find how to do pryaniki especially the glaze part. It never worked with regular sugar for me before but this one I can’t be more proud. Now I will be fixing it more often and my kids just adore it. Thank you again. They are delicious.
Lana, you are very welcome and thank you for such a great review 😬
I made these twice. First time with peppermint, second time I omitted the peppermint because I like them that way better. Anyway. I got to thinking, what if I glaze them with your chocolate ganache?? Need to experiment. Thanks for recipe!!
I think that would taste really good!! It might get a little messy trying to eat them with your hands as cookies but it would probably be worth it! 😉
Would you recommend this glaze without peppermint to use on stems of sweet Russian mushrooms? I’ve used other glaze but it does not set well and comes off.
I think that would work well to use it as you’re describing it. This glaze sets well and does not come off easily.
Thank you, I ended up using this glaze and it turned out perfect.
You’re very welcome and I’m so glad you liked it!! 🙂
What about if you’re breastfeeding? Does that make a difference to your child?
Hi Jo, not normally – this is safe and ok for breastfeeding moms, unless your little one has an egg sensitivity or allergy.
Excellent, Natasha! Light, tender, not too sweet–just right. The peppermint is a nice surprise. We finished making them last night and had to have another this morning with our tea. Another winner 🙂
Jim, thank you for the wonderful review, I’m all smiles 😁.
“*Tip for exact flour measuring: stir flour with a spoon…”
To make life easier for yourself, get a good kitchen scale and weigh everything out. You can find exact conversions on any number of sites. Trust me, it’ll make baking a lot more enjoyable – and predictable!
Hi 🙂 I do have a scale but because so many home cooks don’t I like to give the practical measurements. I agree, it would be nice to have a grams measurement for everything but practically speaking that would involve a lot of baking and measuring for hundreds of recipes 🙂
Hi, Natasha)
i baked these babies today) and my 4 year old picky son told me: mom, you made these delicious))
awee!! i bet you know that mama feeling?!
then ingave the pryaniki to my girls after i picked them up from school. They told me that these are waaaaay better than at russian store)
only thing that i substituted was about 75% amout thats needed of sour cream for plain yougurt. and a bit of sour cream to make 2 cups. Not intentionally though) came out super delish)
Thank you , my friend)
That is the best when kids love what we Mom’s make. You are very welcome 😀.
Natasha, I have made these countless times, and they are perfect every time… My husband prefers the traditional kind. I have tried 3 different recipes and all of them have not met the standard of these pryaniki. Can you post or suggest a traditional spice pryanik (like the typical ones you’d buy at the market in Ukraina)? I’m tired of making batches that just don’t have the same consistency of yours (which is the RIGHT consistency)! Best, Yul’ka
Thank you so much for the awesome review! 🙂 I haven’t tried making the spiced version but it may be a good experiment! If I come up with something great, I will definitely share it 😉
Thank again for this wonderful recipe! I love these pryanics! I did the same mistake as usual! I always feel like it’s too much sugar in recipe, and try to cut it down (I only used one cup of sugar instead of two😱😱) and it’s not sweet of course, but still taste delicious. Definitely a keeper, thank you!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it even with less sugar 🙂 Thanks for sharing your great review 🙂
I saw that you use peppermint extract for the glaze but i accidentaly got the mint extract is there a difference?
I’ve never tried with mint but they are pretty similar so I would think they are interchangeable.
Would lemon extract be good instead of the mint?
Yes that will work. 🙂
Thank you Natasha.
My mom is Russian and my dad is Kenyan. I love it when my mom cooks Russian food. This website has been so helpful because I’m learning new recipes. Thank you for your time and talent! Be blessed.
Diana, you are very welcome and thank you for visiting the site :).
Is there no easy printable version of this recipe?
There is a printer friendly version at the bottom of the recipe post. The formatting is a little off right now on the screen and we are working on that, but it should print nicely when you hit the print button.
Hi thanks a lot for receipt but I have question why mine glass not creamy but thick
Do you mean the glaze? You may have added a little too much powdered sugar? When you measured it, did you use a dry ingredients measuring cup, scraping off the top or did you use a wet ingredients cup because you will get different measurements with each of those. I hope that helps. If it does seem too thick, you can always just add a teaspoon of water at a time until it is the desired consistency.
I loved these pryaniki!!! I used coffee extract in the dough instead of vanilla and hazelnut extract in the glaze- they turned out perfectly delicious!!! Since im breastfeeding i try to stay away from mint… But cant wait to use mint glaze!!! Next time im thinking to add ginger extract in the dough also and cocoa powder in the glaze …. Im very grateful for this recipe , Natasha! Its very exciting that i will be able to enjoy delicious freshly baked pryaniki anytime i crave them 🙂
I’m so happy you loved them and it’s really great to know that coffee extract works well! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Natalia, thank you for this fantastic recipe. My only problem was that they cracked on top. What might be the reason?
It’s hard to say without being there. I haven’t had a problem with cracking before. Did you bake them in the center of the oven? Did you possibly over-bake them? They should just start to turn golden. Anything else that you may have done differently? Did you measure flour the recommended way (see the paragraph after the list of ingredients on measuring flour).
Seem to have followed instructions to the letter. I shall investigate further because do intend to bake them a lot during holiday season. They taste wonderful and are very nostalgic.
Hi Natasha. I made these last night. Why didn’t you say they were so addictingly good. They are mostly gone. so yummy!!!! Thank you for this recipe. will make again unfortunately! 😉
Ha ha, yes they sure are! At least they aren’t butter and sugar loaded like most cookies in the U.S. are so they aren’t as guilty to eat 😉