Paprenjaci are traditional Croatian cookies, and are often made for Christmas and New Year. The aromatic taste is given by a combination of walnuts, honey and spices, and as the name suggests, a small dose of pepper is hidden in them.
Although there are traditional wooden models for cutting Paprenjaci, feel free to use the ones you have. Cut out little bells, hearts, stars …, and if you don’t have that either, you can also cut them into squares with a knife.

Ingredients:
- 40 dkg of flour (14 oz)
- 18 dkg of melted butter (6,5 oz)
- 15 dkg of sugar (5,5 oz)
- 15 dkg of ground walnuts (5,5 oz)
- 1 egg and 3 yolks
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- half a teaspoon of cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper

- In one bowl, mix the butter, egg yolks and honey, and in the other all the dry ingredients. You can add spices as desired, half a teaspoon is an approximate dose.
- Gently add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix everything by hand (you can also mix with an electric mixer with dough whisks at the beginning). You will need to knead a little bit longer, until the dough becomes compact.
- Then wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge for 2 h to squeeze.
- When you have taken the dough out of the fridge (if it is very hard, you can leave it at room temperature for a while), divide it in half to make it easier to shape, and place the first part between two baking papers (greaseproof paper) and roll it out. Make sure it is not too thin, the minimum is 0.5 cm. Ideally from 0.5 cm to 1 cm (0,20 to 0,40 inch).
- Peel off the top paper and cut out the cookies with the desired cookie cutters. Repeat with the other part of the dough.
- Bake the biscuits at 392°F for about 10 to 15 minutes, they were best in my oven after 12 minutes. When the edges start to take on a brownish color, feel free to take them out.
