Christmas cookies with Gemius. 16 cookie recipes from from 16 countries across Europe.

1. A Book of Christmas Goodies

2. Merry Christmas to all Readers! May this be a joyful season of
good health, soothing family gatherings and warm hearts. We wish
you a prosperous New Year, successful both in private and
professional life. These Holidays are a time of magic, when the good
dreams come true, animals speak in human voices and even the
most everyday things become exceptional. The same spell has been
cast on one of the Gemius metrics, a small creature well known to
all internet users – the cookie. On this magic occasion, they can take
a more physical form and become home-made biscuits. Since we
operate on many European markets, we give you a selection of
recipes for traditional treats from all countries on the Gemius map.
We hope these goodies will sweeten up your Christmas, filling your
home with the aromas of honey, cinnamon, oranges…
Best Holiday wishes from the Gemius team!

3. Pryaniki
Russian Gingerbread Biscuits
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup honey
Thick berry jam
Optional:
1/2 cup icing sugar
Method:
Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into a bowl and add the spices.
Put the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl and whisk until white and thick.
Melt the honey until it is liquid and stir in the vanilla. Set aside to cool slightly before adding the honey to
the egg mixture. Stir this mix into the flour to form a stiff dough. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.
Take approximately a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball on a lightly floured surface. Flatten the
dough and place around 1/2 teaspoon of jam into the middle. Pinch the edges together to close and roll on
a lightly floured surface to shape into a ball. Place each ball onto a greased or non-stick baking tray with
plenty of space between each ball - they will spread as they cook to around twice their original size.
Pre-heat the oven to 175 degrees C. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the tray half way through.
These gingerbread biscuits are great plain, but you can also glaze them with thin icing made from the icing
sugar and water, or roll them directly in the icing sugar powder.
3 RUSSIA

4. Maslenki
Bulgarian Biscuits
Ingredients:
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup lard
4 cups white flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
your favourite jam
Method:
Beat the eggs well and then add sugar; beat until light and foamy (about 5 minutes). Melt the lard, and
when slightly cooled (so as not to cook the eggs), slowly add the lard to the egg and sugar mixture.
Combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the flour mixture to the egg and lard mixture to create a firm
dough. Divide into 3 balls. Roll out each ball until it is 1/4-inch thick. With a small glass or pastry cutter,
cut circles. In half of the circles, punch a 3/8-inch hole in the centre.
Bake in an oven preheated to 375°F for 8-10 minutes. Remove and when completely cooled, spread the full
halves with jam. Top with the halves with holes. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired. Makes about 4
dozen biscuits.
BULGARIA 4

5. Jõulupiparkoogid
Estonian Gingerbread
Ingredients:
for 1.3 kg of gingerbread dough
250 g light (corn) syrup
200 g sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1-2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground ginger
0.5 tsp ground allspice
0.5 tsp ground nutmeg
250 g butter
2 large eggs
600 g plain flour
2 tsp baking soda
Method:
Mix the syrup, sugar and ground spices in a saucepan and bring to the simmer.
Add the cubed butter and stir, until the butter melts. Remove the pan from the heat and cool.
Add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon (or simply use a mixer).
Mix flour and baking soda, then add gradually to the syrup and sugar mixture.
Knead until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge at least
overnight, preferably for a few days. To make the cookies, divide the dough into manageable chunks and
roll into 3 mm thickness on a lightly floured pastry board. Transfer to a baking tray.
Bake at 200°C in the middle shelf of a pre-heated oven for 6-9 minutes, until cooked through.
Cool, then decorate with a sugar glaze.
To make the sugar glaze: Mix 1 egg white with enough icing sugar to get a thick and glossy glaze. Put into
a piping bag with a very small hole and decorate.
5 ESTONIA

6. Medovnicky
Slovakian Cookies
Ingredients:
1 & 1/4 lb. flour,
3/4 lb. dark brown sugar,
4 eggs, beaten well,
3/4 cup honey,
1 teaspoon vanilla,
1 teaspoon baking soda,
2 ounces sweet butter,
1 beaten egg for brushing biscuits.
Method:
Mix flour and butter, sugar and soda. Beat eggs well, add honey, and mix well with flour mixture.
Let it stand in refrigerator overnight. Roll the dough about 1/8 inches thick and cut out with pastry cutter
or take about a teaspoon of dough, flatten, brush over with egg. Put one half almond or chocolate chip on
each cookie. Place on greased baking trays, about 3 inches apart. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200-250° C
for about 7 minutes.
SLOVAKIA 6

7. Rizdwjani korzhyky
Ukrainian christmas biscuits
Ingredients:
600 g flour
150 g honey
200 g sugar
150 g margarine
3—4 eggs
1 tea spoon of cinnamon with the ground carnation
1 tea spoon of soda
Method:
Combine flour with soda, add margarine and mix. Then add sugar, 2 whole eggs with 2 yolks, warmed
honey with carnation and cinnamon. Add dough. If dough is too stiff — add 1—2 spoons of sour cream.
Cover dough and leave overnight in a cold place. Roll dough and shape biscuits. Put biscuits on greased
baking tray, glaze with egg yolk and bake in oven (temperature 200° C). Traditionally, the biscuits are
coloured red with beetroot juice.
7 UKRAINE

8. Sigarer
Norwegian Cigars
Ingredients:
(makes 75 cigars)
175 g butter
1 cup sugar
125 g hazelnuts
2 tbs. whipped cream
3 cups flour
Decoration:
150 g cooking chocolate
a small amount of cocoa butter (optional)
Method:
Beat the soft butter with sugar and add cream. Grind the hazelnuts. Add them to the butter and stir in the
flour. Knead the dough quickly.
Divide the dough into 5-centimeter "cigars" and transfer them onto a lined baking tray. Bake in 175 ° C for
10-15 minutes, until golden-brown at the edges. Once baked, leave in the oven for 10 min, then remove
from the sheet and set aside to cool down completely.
Melt the chocolate with cocoa butter (optional) in a bain-marie or in a small saucepan over boiling water
Dip one end of each cigar in the melted chocolate and place them on baking paper to cool.
Store the "cigars" in a cool place.
NORWAY 8

9. Trupininis
Crumble
Ingredients:
½ kg flour
150 g butter
250 g sugar
3 eggs
½ packet baking-powder
Lemon peel
Thick fruit or berry jam
Method:
All the products are kneaded in the bowl in a cold room, covered and kept in a fridge for about 1 hour.
A baking tray is covered with baking paper, greased with butter and sprinkled with flour. Dough is
crumbled or grated with a large-holed grater straight onto the baking tray. After half of the dough is
crumbled, fruit or berry jam is spread on it. The remaining dough is crumbled on the top and quickly baked
in a hot oven for 30 – 40 min. The baked crumble is sprinkled with sugar powder and sliced for serving.
9 LITHUANIA

10. Polish delight
Orange Cookies
Ingredients:
125 g shortening
60 g sugar
150 g flour
vanilla sugar
140 g icing sugar
2 tbs. water
200 g candied orange peel
1 tbs. milk
Method:
Place the flour, sugar, softened shortening, vanilla sugar and milk in a food processor and mix well.
Transfer the lot onto a board sprinkled with flour and knead quickly. Roll the dough to app. 1/2 cm in
thickness and cut out the shapes.
Place the biscuits on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 min in 180° C.
Mix the icing sugar with water. Spread the sugary paste over cooled cookies and decorate each with the
candied orange zest.
POLAND 10

11. Cozonac romanesc
Romanian Christmas Cake
Ingredients:
1 kg wheat flour vanilla
4 whole eggs 60 g yeast
4 egg yolks 100 g raisins
4 egg whites 600 g walnuts or poppy seeds
200 g sugar 10 g salt
50 ml rum
500 ml milk For the preparation of two baking tins:
100 g butter 50 g butter
1 lemon 50 g caster sugar
1 orange
Method:
First the dough is prepared with half the quantity of milk to which an appropriate amount of flour is added,
then add the yeast. Mix everything well and sprinkle with flour. Leave the dough in a warm place to rise for
about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the rest of the milk, the sugar, the whole eggs, the egg yolks, the grated
rinds of the lemon and the orange, the salt and the vanilla should be mixed well in a pot over a very low
heat, or in a bain-marie over boiling water. After the dough has risen, add this mixture to the dough and
start kneading. While doing this, add more of the flour as required. Beat the egg whites until stiff, fold into
the dough, and continue kneading. During this process bubbles will start to form. When you consider the
dough to be sufficiently kneaded add some slightly warmed butter and knead again. Then fold in the
raisins, the walnuts (or poppy seeds) and the rum. How these are folded in will determine the pattern of
the final cake (see photos). Cover the dough with a warm towel and leave to rise again in a warm place.
While the dough rises, grease well with butter the base and sides of loaf tins and then sprinkle sugar on the
greased interior. After the dough has risen sufficiently, divide it and put each part into one of the loaf tins
in so that the dough fills only about half of each tin. Then let it rise again in the baking tins, make sure no
cold air can reach them and that the place is constantly warm. When the dough has risen to about 3/4 of
the tin, spread butter on top of the loaves, followed by a sprinkling of crushed sugar cubes.
Place the baking tins in a good oven. Set the stove to a rather low temperature (120° C - 150° C). Part way
through turn the loaf tins around in the oven to ensure that the cake rises equally on all sides. Bake (usually
around 50 minutes to one hour) until the top of the cozonac has a nice brown colour.
11 ROMANIA

12. Mincemeat
British Cookies
Ingredients:
1 lemon
150g raisins
150g sultanas
85g mixed peel
1 cooking apple, washed, cored and quartered
150g currants
150g brown sugar
150g shredded suet
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
4 tbsp. dark rum, brandy or whisky (or a mixture)
Method:
Wash the lemon and boil it whole in a saucepan of water for about 1 hour or until soft. Allow to cool and
cut in half. Keep the juice, rind and skin but discard the pips.
Place the lemon, rind, skin and juice in a food processor along with the raisins, sultanas, mixed peel,
unpeeled apples and mix to a thick paste. Don't process the currants.
Tip the paste into a large bowl and add the currants, sugar, suet and spices. Mix well and pour in the
whisky and rum. Store the mincemeat in jars or plastic containers in the fridge and it will keep for months.
GREAT BRITAIN 12

13. Piparkūkas
Latvian Christmas Gingerbread
Ingredients:
100 g honey
80 g sugar
100 g butter
400 g flour
150 g water
2 eggs
A pinch of salt, citric acid, baking soda
1 teaspoon gingerbread spices (mixed according to personal
taste): Ground cloves, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger
powder, black and aromatic pepper. You can also add vanilla
sugar, nutmeg, anise and grated citrus peel.
Method:
Most or all of the sugar is simmered in a pan, until it becomes brown. Add half the required amount of
water, stirring, until the mass is free of clots.
Meanwhile mix honey with butter and the remaining amount of water. Boil and cool it a bit. Add to this
mass eggs, spices, salt, soda, citric, warm caramelized and chilled sugar.
Add the flour and, while it's still warm, mix it well until the dough becomes smooth.
Wrap dough in plastic or foil and place in refrigerator for several hours or overnight. Before baking, it is
recommended to keep dough at room temperature so it becomes softer.
Take risen gingerbread dough, heat it by kneading well one more time. Then roll it and squeeze biscuit
shapes of your choice, place them on a greased baking tray, daub with beaten egg and bake at 200 ° C for
12-15 minutes in a pre-heated oven. Remember, the true taste of gingerbread is obtained only after a
couple of days.
13 LATVIA

14. Diós Patkó
Hungarian Nut Crescents
Ingredients:
Dough: Egg wash:
1 cup butter 1 egg yolk
1 cup vegetable shortening Few drops of water
6 ¼ cups of plain flour Sugar for the pastry board
2 tablespoons, active dry yeast
½ litre sour cream
3 each egg yolks
1 pinch salt
Filling:
¼ kg ground walnuts
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 egg whites, stiffly beaten
Method:
In a bowl, cut the butter and shortening into the flour until the mixture is crumbly.
In a separate bowl, mix the yeast into the sour cream, then add egg yolks and salt. Combine with the flour
mixture. Mix until smooth and the sides of the bowl are clean.
Form into a large ball, cover and chill overnight. To make filling, mix walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla
and stiffly beaten egg whites together in a bowl. To make egg wash, mix egg yolk and a few drops of water
in a small bowl.
Preheat oven to 180°C. Sprinkle granulated sugar onto a pastry board. Divide the dough into six portions.
Work with one portion at a time, refrigerating the dough you are not using. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch
thick and sprinkle with more sugar. Cut into 2 x 2-inch squares. Place a bit of the nut filling along one end
of the square and roll up. Form into a crescent. Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet.
Paint with egg wash. Bake at 180°C for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.
Makes 10 dozen. Note: Make sure you let the dough chill overnight to make it easy to work with. You may
want to halve the recipe for a smaller yield.
HUNGARY 14

15. Orechove dorticky
Christmas Biscuits
Ingredients:
Biscuits: Filling:
2 sticks (8 oz or 1 cup) of soft, 1 stick of unsalted butter (4 oz)
unsalted butter 2 egg yolks
2/3 (5 oz) cup of sugar 1/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp of grated lemon rind 1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tbs vanilla extract 1 tbs of unsweetened cocoa
4 egg yolks powder
2 and 1/4 cups (18 oz) of plain
flour Topping:
1/2 cup of ground walnuts 1 bar dark baking chocolate (4 oz)
Optional: 1 tbs of unsweetened walnut halves, about 1 cup
cocoa powder (that’s if you like
things really chocolaty)
Method:
In a big bowl, mix the butter, sugar, lemon rind, vanilla extract, egg yolks and ground walnuts. Slowly mix
in 1 and 3/4 cups of four. Work the mixture into a dough and place it in the fridge for about 2 hours (or
overnight). Remove the dough from the fridge and let it stand in room temperature until it is workable
(about 1 hour). Roll out the dough onto a floured surface until it is about 1/4 inch thick (also coat the
rolling pin with flour; as you are rolling out the dough, keep sprinkling it with a little bit of flour at the time
to prevent sticking). Use pastry cutters to cut out the various shapes of biscuits; keep in mind that the final
product is going to be quite filling so the smaller the biscuit, the better. Transfer the cut biscuits on to an
ungreased baking sheet (use a spatula for the transfer if necessary) and bake them in a pre-heated oven for
10 to 12 minutes at 325 degrees F. Let the biscuits cool down. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together
sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and egg yolks. Add in the butter (room-temperature) and whisk
everything together until the mixture appears smooth and creamy. Spread the cream on top of a biscuit
and cover it with a second biscuit to make a sandwich; make sure that the cream layer is thick, about 1/4
of an inch. Also, use a piping bag to layer the filling on the top so that the sides don’t get messy. Continue
creating biscuit sandwiches until there are no more “naked” biscuits left. Melt the chocolate bar according
to the directions on the bar package. Dip one side of each sandwich into the chocolate. Top each biscuit
with a walnut half.
15 CZECH REPUBLIC

16. Vanillekipferl
Vanilla Croissants
Ingredients:
one Vanilla pod
70 g icing sugar
160 g butter
200 g flour
70 g ground almonds
Vanilla sugar
Method:
Cut vanilla pod in half, scrape out the seeds . Mix butter with icing sugar, then quickly add flour, ground
almonds and vanilla (1/2 vanilla pod). Let the dough stand in the refrigerator for 30 min.
Make 2 strands out of the dough (thick as a finger) and cut it into small pieces (4-5 cm).
Pull ends to form a half-moon or a "C". Lay onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 170 C° for 12
minutes in a pre-heated oven. Mix icing sugar and vanilla sugar. Carefully, toss hot half-moons in the
sugar mixture.
AUSTRIA 16

17. Table of contents:
Pryaniki
Russian Gingerbread Biscuits 3
Maslenki
Bulgarian Biscuits 4
Jõulupiparkoogid
Estonian Gingerbread 5
Medovnicky
Slovakian Cookies 6
Rizdwjani korzhyky
Ukrainian christmas biscuits 7
Sigarer
Norwegian Cigars 8
Trupininis
Lithuanian Crumble 9
Polish delight
Orange Cookies 10
Cozonac romanesc
Romanian Christmas Cake 11
Mincemeat
British Cookies 12
Piparkūkas
Latvian Christmas Gingerbread 13
Diós Patkó
Hungarian Nut Crescents 14
Orechove dorticky
Christmas Biscuits 15
Vanillekipferl
Vanilla Croissants 16

18. Contact
Gemius SA
7 Woloska St,
Mars Building, Staircase D, 2nd Floor
Warsaw 02-675
Phone no. +48 22 874 41 00
Fax no. +48 22 874 41 01
contact@gemius.com
www.gemius.com
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Division of the National Court Registry under No. KRS 0000041076, tax identification No. NIP
527-22-41-358, with share capital of PLN 1,285,977.00 (fully paid).