The Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovakia

I have recently realized that I am obsessed with medovníky, and while in Slovakia, I have been constantly on the look out to find the most beautifully decorated medovník that I can possibly find. Taste is also important, if I can bring myself to actually eat it or encourage others to do so.

What are they? Medovníky are spice cookies made with honey, that are usually decorated, sometimes quite intricately, with a white-colored icing. In Slovakia they are traditionally Christmas cookies, but in fact, they are made and sold all year round.

Medovníky combine two interests of mine: baking and design. They are, in fact, an art form. When I got married in Slovakia, the one American custom I kept was to have wedding favors given to each guest at the reception. My husband and I chose medovníky with a variety of different designs. We were lucky enough to find Mr. and Mrs. Klučiár who run a business of making and selling beautiful medovniky out of their home in Topolčianky. They provided us with an assortment of delicious heart-shaped cookies, decorated with the most extraordinary, intricate designs imaginable.

There are thousands of recipes for medovníky. I’m only posting one, of course. To see more pictures, I found a blog a Slovak wrote on medovníky that includes several shapes and designs.

• 1/2 kilo (2 1/4 cups) flour
• 125 grams (1/2 cup) shortening
• 125 grams (1/2 cup) honey
• 190 grams (3/4 cup) powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• a pinch of anise and/or fennel (if you have them on hand)

Directions: beat the eggs lightly in a large bowl. Add the honey, sugar, and shortening and mix together. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and spices together. Add the dry to the wet ingredients. Set the dough in the refrigerator for an hour to cool. Roll the dough out to 3-5 millimeters (1/8 to 1/4 inch) thick and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place onto a buttered baking sheet. Bake for 5-7 minutes at 200°C (400°F). Once they come out of the oven, brush them quickly, while they are still very hot, with an egg wash. Decorate them with icing when they are cool.

• 1 egg white
• 125 grams (1/2 cup) powdered sugar

You don’t need a fancy tool to work with icing. Simply spoon your icing into a sandwich bag, twist the bag tightly until the icing wedges into one corner, and then poke or cut a tiny hole into the corner.

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