Russian Pryanik (Пряник)

Pryanik (Russian and Ukrainian: пряник, Belarusian: пернік) refers to a range of traditional sweet baked goods in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and some neighbouring countries like Poland (Polish: piernik). Traditionally pryaniks are made from flour and honey. Some Russian-English dictionaries translate pryanik as gingerbread, but this is misleading, since ginger is an optional pryanik ingredient, unlike honey.^[1][2] Sugar is often used instead of honey in industrial pryaniks production and modern home-cooking. Related to pryanik is kovrizhka (коврижка), a sweet pie with similar ingredients.

The word pryanik is from Old Russian пьпьрянъ, an adjective from Old Russian пьпьрь 'pepper' which makes it etymologically similar or related to German Pfefferkuchen. However, traditional pryaniki do not usually include pepper as an ingredient.