Medenjaci: Easy Serbian Honey Cookie Recipe From My Family's Kitchen

A childhood experience nearly every immigrant and first-generation American can relate to is being asked "What's that?" while kids point at your food. Often, it can be humiliating--a clear sign that stand out from the other American children. Personally, I learned to embrace this as I grew up, and enthusiastically passed my food around the lunch table. A fan favorite was my family's honey cookie recipe: medenjaci.

The taste is somewhat like gingerbread, but less strong. They go well with milk, and are bite-sized. If you're looking to try some new dessert flavors this fall, these are the cookies for you! Best of all, they can be prepared relatively quickly and easily with ingredients you can find around your house.

Medenjaci (Serbian Honey Cookies)

• Prep Time:20 mins
• Cook Time:13 mins
• Total Time:33 mins
• Servings:50
• Easy

Ingredients

• 600g flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 150g butter
• 200g granulated sugar
• 200g melted honey
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

• Step 1

  Cream the butter and sugar together. It is important that you use granulated sugar, not powdered sugar.

  

• Step 2

  Melt the honey only so that it has a runny consistency, but do not let it get too hot or boil. When the honey is melted, let it cool until it is slightly warm. If your honey already has a very runny consistency, you can skip this step.

  

• Step 3

  Add the eggs to the butter and sugar and mix. Then add the honey and vanilla extract and mix until the wet ingredients have been thoroughly combined.

  

• Step 4

  Put the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon) in a big bowl. Add them slowly into the wet ingredients until everything is combined. Your dough should have as little cracks in it as possible.

  

• Step 5

  Scoop the dough into small balls with a small spoon. Roll them between your hands until they are smooth, and press them down onto a baking pan with your thumb so that there is a small indent in the top. They should be about one inch in diameter. You do not need to butter or oil the pan.

  

• Step 6

  Bake at 350 F for 12-13 minutes or until the cookies turn golden brown. The recipe makes around 50 small cookies.

  

It's worth noting that your cookies don't need to be perfect. Growing up, my family rarely used precise measurements when baking. Adding slightly too much of one ingredient or too little of another won't dramatically affect the taste or texture of the cookies. For me, there was nothing like the feeling of getting these cookies shipped from home to my dorm--and they were certainly a fan favorite within my hall.