Пряники/Pryaniki (Russian spiced cakey biscuit buns)

Пряники/Pryaniki (Russian spiced cakey biscuit buns)

One of the things I’ve been delighted I can still eat as a vegan is pryaniki, as luckily most Russian and Eastern European shops in Dublin stock ones that are vegan friendly. As there is such ample supply of pryaniki in Dublin, I never much considered trying to make my own until now. To describe what pryaniki are to someone who’s not had one before is a bit difficult, as I have never found quite a similar western comparison. It’s kind of a cross between a cake and a biscuit, crumbly but soft.

Pryaniki come in many flavours and each region in Russia and other places do their own versions of them, often you see them stamped with designs in shops. This version here is kind of a veganised version of Медовые Пряники (honey pryaniki), but with golden syrup used instead of the honey. Adding some mint essence, some treacle, liquor, jam/marmalade or even putting some jam in the centre are all also popular versions to make.

Ingredients:

- 3.5 cups self raising flour

- 3/4 cup sugar

- 1/2 cup golden syrup

- 1/2 cup dairy free butter (or oil even)

- 1/3 cup soya milk (or other milk, or water)

- 1 tsp vanilla essence

- Spices: 4-5 tsp cinnamon, 4-5 tsp mixed spice, 1-2 tsp ginger, 1 tsp cocoa powder (optional)              

- A little icing sugar (for glaze)

1. Mix the flour with the spices in a bowl.

2. Put the rest of the ingredients in a pot and cook on a low heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Add to the flour mix and mix until a mouldable dough.

3. At this point take hand chunks out and roll them into balls, flattening them down on a greased tray. You can also roll the dough out and cut out shapes, moons and stars are particular popular ones.

4. Once put out, glaze with a little soya milk. Cook at 180⁰ for about 12-15mins

5. Once done, mix some icing sugar with water to make a watery but white glaze and spread over the pryaniki. Dust with some icing sugar as well if you like.

I used to love dipping them into tea as a kid, and tea really is the perfect accompaniment to them. This version turned out amazingly the perfect texture and crumbliness and I'll be making it again and again I'd say to try out different flavours.

Also, another version we recently tried out: Mint, chocolate and almond Pryaniki/Пряники