Pierniczki świąteczne

The story

In Poland the scent of Christmas arrives weeks before the holiday, when families spend an Advent afternoon rolling out dark, honey-sweetened dough for pierniczki. The cookies are cut into hearts, stars, animals, and figures of St. Nicholas, and many are given to children on his feast day, December 6, which Poles treat as the unofficial start of the season. Others get a small hole punched near the top before baking so that, once iced, they can be threaded with ribbon and hung on the Christmas tree beside red apples, walnuts, and wrapped chocolates. The name comes from pieprz, pepper, a reminder of the days when spices were costly and gingerbread was a luxury; the city of Toruń, long famous for its gingerbread, keeps a museum devoted to it. Baked early, pierniczki wait in tins, softening and growing more fragrant until Christmas. They are not to be confused with piernik, the honey cake served in slices. For Polish American families, an afternoon of cutting and icing these cookies with the children remains one of the simplest ways to bring a Polish Advent into an American kitchen.