I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but I (Leandra) spent my years between age 10 and 16 living in Europe with my family. We lived in a beautiful house in a village outside of Bratislava, Slovakia. I loved so much of it: the language, the bread, the bike paths that meandered from town to town, and my wonderful circle of expatriate friends. One of my favorite times of year there was Christmastime. It’s when I miss Europe the most. Shopping at the local mall just doesn’t compare with the open-air Christmas market in the Old Town sector of Bratislava. And while I do love my holiday Starbucks drink (tall peppermint mocha all the way!), it’s not quite the same as ducking into a cafe to warm up with some thick hot chocolate.

This year Grant and I determined to take more time for the holidays, to close the laptops once in a while and enjoy the Christmas season. We may not have made a trip back to Europe, but we did buy our first live tree this year! I also dug out an old Slovak recipe for medovníky (honey cookies). These cookies are the epitome of Christmas, so full of cloves and honey and cinnamon. I thought I’d share the recipe!

Medovníky

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• a pinch of anise

Directions: beat the eggs lightly in a large bowl. Add the honey, sugar, and butter 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 at least two hours to cool. Roll the dough out to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place onto a grased baking sheet. Bake for 5-7 minutes at 400°F. Once they come out of the oven, brush them quickly, while they are still very hot, with an egg wash (egg yolk thinned with water). Decorate them with icing when they are cool.

Icing

• 1 egg white
• approx. 1/2 cup powdered sugar

No special baking tools necessary for the icing… Just spoon your it into a sandwich bag, twist the bag tightly to force the icing into one corner, and then cut a very small hole at the corner.

We discovered that Grant has far more patience and skill with icing design than I do. Hey, at least I provided the recipe, right?

We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday so far. Christmas is only a week away!