Hungarian Honey Cakes (mézeskalács)

Total Time: 24 hrs 6 mins Preparation Time: 24 hrs Cook Time: 6 mins

Ingredients

• 4 cups flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (4 tbsp or 2 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 lemon, rind of, grated
• 1 egg
• extra egg(s) for egg wash
• 3 drops red food coloring (optional)
• poppy seed (optional)
• 1 egg
• powdered sugar, sifted (as much as needed to make fairly stiff paste)
• 3 drops food coloring, of choice

Recipe

• 1 day before baking:.
• 2 sift together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and baking soda.
• 3 melt together the butter and the honey, pour over the flour combination and stir to mix.
• 4 add 1 egg and knead together. the dough should be soft (you can add a bit of lukewarm water if necessary), since it will harden a bit during its resting period.
• 5 cover the dough in a bowl and let it rest at least one day at room temperature.
• 6 baking day:.
• 7 rolling out the dough is easiest between two pieces of waxed paper.
• 8 cut desired shapes out of the dough (of about 3/8 inches thickness on average).
• 9 before baking, brush with the yolk of an egg to which a few drops of red food coloring have been added. if you are decorating with seeds, brush dough with egg to "paste" seeds on top of dough before baking.
• 10 (alternately, let the honey cakes rest a few days and then decorate with colored sugar icings.).
• 11 place cut out pieces of dough on a cold, greased cookie sheet, bake at 350 degrees f. (or less) for about 6-8 minutes. thicker pieces may need a longer time (ovens temperatures also vary).
• 12 decoration:.
• 13 if icing cookies, let the honey cakes rest a few days and then decorate with colored sugar icings.
• 14 make various colored sugar icings:.
• 15 colored sugar icing, one version: to one egg , add as much sifted powdered sugar as needed to make fairly stiff paste. add desired food colorings, separated by color. (do not use a mixer!)
• 16 spoon this mixture into a small nylon baggie, cut a tiny hole in one corner, roll up and use like a pencil to draw and color.