Margarita's International Recipes

Croatia



Paprenjaci

Croatian Pepper Cakes


I made this recipe because, honestly, I couldn't find too many dessert recipes from Croatia. It was OK. I felt the cookies didn't have enough flavor, though with a few more seasonings they would taste as spice cookies. The white pepper was discernable, but barely so. They are definitely not spicy.

All that said, my 7-year-old really liked them.

I made the recipe pretty much as directed, though I change the quantities, reducing by 1/3. Even then this recipe made more cookies that I wanted, about 4 baking-sheet worth. One problem I had with the dough was that it was too crumbly, specially when cold. That made cutting the cookies a bit difficult.


Croatian Pepper Cakes

Ingredients

  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 2/3 cup butter, room temperature
  • 2/3 cup baker's (superfine) sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups ground walnuts
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 Tbsp. honey
  • 2/3 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 2/3 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2/3 tsp. ground cloves
  • 2/3 tsp. ground white pepper

  • flour for dusting
  • 1 beaten egg for brushing
  • walnut halves, to decorate

Directions

Sift flour into a large mixing bowl. Mix in butter. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix into a smooth dough. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease one or more baking sheets.

Lightly flour a large working surface and a rolling pin, and roll the dough (you may have to do this in parts) until it's about 1/4" thick. Cut into squares and place on the baking sheets. Brush cookies with egg and place walnuts in the middle. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden.


Adapted from a recipe at About Croatia.com


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