Pryanik

Some have letters or flowers raised from a wooden mold and a glossy surface. Some also hold a spice-scented dough and a fruit filling inside. Pryanik belongs to a family of sweet baked goods popular in Russia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Shape, size, aroma and filling vary by region and by maker.

Kneading in aroma, pressing in pictures

Flour is combined with honey or sugar, flavored with spices such as cinnamon and cloves, and baked. The name is connected to a word meaning “spiced,” but ginger is not necessarily included. The sweetness and aroma of honey, the sweetness of sugar and the combination of spices give a wide variety of flavors even to confections of the same name.

The pryanik known from Tula in Russia is the representative example of the type in which pictures or letters are pressed into the dough with a carved wooden mold and a fruit filling is sandwiched inside before baking. Because the design on the mold board is carved in reverse, like a mirror image, the letters appear the right way round on the dough. Cutting into one with a sugar glaze on its surface reveals the aromatic dough and a sweet-tart fruit layer.

Pressing with a mold is not the only method. Kozuli from Arkhangelsk in the north are made by cutting dark dough into shapes such as deer, horses and birds, then drawing lines and patterns with white or pale-colored sugar glaze. Some shapes leave a narrow strip of “ground” beneath the animals’ feet. They have traditionally been baked for New Year and Christmas, and today they are also made for other celebrations. The raised patterns of Tula and the painted decoration of the north are decorated in very different ways.

Imprinting the memory of a town

According to a description by a Tula producer, a land register from 1685 contains a record of people selling these confections. This does not indicate the year they were first baked. In the 19th century, they were also sold at markets and festivals. Some wooden molds are made of birch or pear wood, and carvers cut the designs and letters in reverse. The mold boards, too, are made by craftsmen.

Pryaniki also serve as celebratory gifts. Tula pryaniki are pressed with designs for weddings and anniversaries, and the mold boards, together with the confections, have carried on local craft traditions. Commemorative pryaniki included some inscribed for the coronation of 1896 or for the 200th anniversary, in 1912, of the founding of the Tula Arms Factory.

Glossary