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Its breathtaking aroma, unmistakable taste and unique appearance make Tula pryanik a special treat. The fluffy honey dough with winter spices and sweet and sour filling of jam characterize its taste. Its spicy-sweet fragrance is simply impossible to resist. With its enchanting stamped surface and sweet marble sugar glaze, Tula gingerbread is at the same time too good to bite. Here I show you how to make the most popular Russian pryanik yourself. You can find a detailed Tula gingerbread recipe with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions right below.
What is Tula pryanik?
Tula pryanik is one of the most popular Russian gingerbreads made with honey dough. It has a flat, square shape, consists of two cookie halves and is filled with jam in the middle. It is also covered with sugar glaze. Tula pryanik is called stamped gingerbread because it has various patterns and symbols on its surface. The pastry has existed for several centuries. In the past, pryaniki were produced everywhere in Russia. The most successful were the master bakers from the large Russian city of Tula, who invented the best gingerbread. Thus, the pryanik also got the appropriate name and became popular all over the world. In Tula, there is now even a museum dedicated to Tula gingerbread, and the city’s own Day of Pryanik is also celebrated.
The visual hallmark of the Russian gingerbread
The special visual feature of the Tula pryanik is its stamped surface, which is additionally coated with marble sugar glaze. Artistic symbolism or various inscriptions are depicted on it – often in keeping with a particular occasion. This is because in the past, Tula pryaniki was given as gifts to celebrities or at weddings, sold at trade fairs and made for holidays, among other things. Tula pryanik gets its unique appearance with the help of various carved wooden gingerbread molds. The dough is placed in the wooden mold and pressed with hands until it is so stamped with the pattern.
Special gift for Christmas
With its unique appearance and equally unique taste, Tula gingerbread passes as a special homemade gift. Above all, all those with a sweet tooth are guaranteed to be delighted with such a Christmas gift. Decorate the pryaniki nicely, and you have a great, delicious surprise for your loved ones in the Advent season. You can make the gingerbread in advance, because they stay fresh for a long time, or prepare them just before giving them as a gift, because the recipe is quite simple.
How to stamp Tula gingerbread yourself?
You can easily decorate your Tula pryaniki any way you like or just cover them with sugar glaze. Whether they are stamped or not, it does not affect their delicious taste. But if you want to stamp them as beautifully as the original, there are wooden gingerbread molds for that, which you can order online. By the way, not only the Tula pryanik itself, but also such a carved wooden gingerbread molds is a nice gift for Christmas for those who love to bake.
This Tula pryanik is
- fluffy,
- tender,
- soft,
- very aromatic,
- spicy sweet,
- incredibly tasty,
- with sweet and sour currant jam,
- easy and quick to make with common ingredients,
- delicious Christmas pastry,
- ideal for giving as a gift,
- one of the popular gingerbread of Russian cuisine.
Tula pryanik recipe
The recipe for Tula gingerbread is quite easy. The making goes without much effort. Here you can get a rough idea of how the making goes, and what you need for the recipe. The exact quantities and step-by-step instructions on how to make Tula pryanik yourself can be found in the recipe box below.
For the recipe you need
- honey,
- butter,
- eggs,
- sugar,
- flour,
- baking soda,
- various spices (I had cinnamon, ginger powder and nutmeg)
- and pinch of salt.
To fill the Tula pryaniki you will also need any jam. I had homemade jam made with black currants. Its tart flavor combined perfectly with the savory dough and sweet glaze.
For the sugar glaze, you’ll still need water and sugar.
How to make Tula gingerbread: here’s how to do it (Check out the detailed recipe at the bottom.)
- First, heat the mixture of honey, butter, sugar, spices and salt slowly over a hot water bath, stirring until the butter and sugar have melted, then let it cool. Then stir in the eggs. Then add flour with baking soda and knead it into a soft, slightly sticky dough.
- Divide the dough into several pieces and roll out each piece to a thickness of about 0.7 cm, for example to a square or oval. Stick two pieces of dough together with a little jam and place them on the baking tray. Then bake them at 200 °C for about 15 minutes and let them cool.
- For the sugar glaze, boil water and sugar together, add lemon juice and boil the glaze until it reaches 110 °C. Then let it cool to about 80 °C, quickly coat the Russian gingerbread with it and let it dry. Done!
How to make Tula gingerbread: tips and tricks
- The dough for the classic Tula gingerbread is made without spices, but only with honey. So, depending on your taste, you can omit the spices in the recipe or use other spices instead.
- You can use any kind of honey for the recipe. However, use good quality honey.
- The amount of flour in the recipe may vary. Therefore, add flour in portions until the dough gets the necessary consistency. It should be very soft and somewhat sticky.
- Do not knead the dough too long, but only until it has a homogeneous consistency.
- For the filling you can use any jam. Alternatively, you can fill the Tula pryanik with sweetened condensed milk.
- You can shape and decorate the Tula pryaniki as you like. You can make one big pryanik as well as many small gingerbreads from the dough.
- Note that depending on the size of your gingerbread, the baking time given in the recipe may vary greatly.
- Do not bake the Tula gingerbread longer than necessary, otherwise they may taste dry. Use a thin wooden skewer to check if they are done baking.
- The temperature of the glaze to which it needs to be cooked is very important. It is best to use a kitchen thermometer to measure.
- Coat the gingerbread with the glaze only when they have cooled.
- By the way, making Tula gingerbread is even more fun with children.
- The Russian gingerbreads stay fresh for a long time and taste even better in the next few days. Keep them in airtight packaging in a cool place.
Did you make the Tula gingerbread using this recipe? I’m looking forward to your results, your star rating and your comment here below on how you liked and succeeded in making the Russian pryaniki with honey.
Got an appetite for more Russian pryaniki? Try them too:
Tula pryanik (Russian Tula gingerbread)
Ingredients
- 150 g honey
- 100 g butter
- 150 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- approx. 530 g flour
- 7 g baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger powder
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- 1 pinch of salt
- approx. 120 g jam (any)
- flour for the work surface
for the glaze
- 100 g sugar
- 50 ml water
- 3 drops of lemon juice
Instructions
- Place honey, butter, sugar, cinnamon, ginger powder, nutmeg and salt in a mixing bowl and heat (do not boil!) the ingredients slowly over hot water, stirring, until the butter and sugar have melted. Then let the mixture cool to warm.
- Add eggs to the cooled honey mixture and whisk.
- Add baking soda as well as flour in batches and knead into a very soft, somewhat sticky dough.
- Dust the work surface with flour. Divide the dough into smaller pieces of equal size (I made 12 pieces) and roll each piece out to a square or oval about 0.7 cm thick.
- Place half of the rolled out dough pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving plenty of space between them, and brush them with jam in the center, leaving about 1 cm of clean border from each side of the dough piece. Place a matching piece of dough without jam on top of each piece of dough with jam and press the edge down on all sides with a fork. If you have leftover dough, you can use it to decorate the gingerbread.
- Bake the Tula pryaniki in a preheated oven at 200 °C top and bottom heat for about 15 minutes and let them cool down.
Making the sugar glaze
- Add sugar and water to a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly so that the sugar dissolves before it reaches a boil.
- Once the sugar syrup boils, add lemon juice and stir briefly.
- Then cook the sugar glaze over medium heat, without stirring it, until it reaches 110 °C, and let it cool to about 80 °C.
Glazing the Tula pryaniki
- Brush the glaze on the pryaniki quickly but carefully with a pastry brush and let them dry.
Notes
- Depending on your taste, you can omit the spices in the recipe or use other spices instead.
- You can take any good quality honey for the recipe.
- The amount of flour given may vary. Therefore, add flour in portions until the dough gets the necessary consistency. It should be very soft and somewhat sticky.
- Do not knead the dough too long, but only until it gets a homogeneous consistency.
- Instead of jam, you can fill the Tula pryanik with sweetened condensed milk.
- You can shape and decorate the Tula pryaniki as you like. You can make one big pryanik as well as many small gingerbreads from the dough.
- Depending on the size of the gingerbread, the specified baking time may vary greatly.
- Do not bake the Tula gingerbreads longer than necessary, otherwise they may taste dry. Use a thin wooden skewer to check if they are done baking.
- The temperature of the glaze to which it must be cooked is very important. It is best to use a kitchen thermometer to measure.
- Do not cover the gingerbread with the sugar glaze until they have cooled down.
- The time to cool the pryaniki and glaze is not included in the preparation time.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making Tula gingerbread at the top of the post.