The above text available on the website of the Dobrovnik municipality in Prekmurje confirms the feelings one has when driving through the villages of the Prekmurje plain, where Goričko Nature Park is located. Thanks to some resourceful and industrious people, handicrafts have been thriving in the village of Dobrovnik. The Toplak family – the daughter Zita, mother Terezija and father Ernest supplement the family income by producing unique baked clay products. In the first phase, using a model, they cut hearts out of evenly rolled clay and decorate them with hand-made roses. In the next phase, the dried hearts are baked in a pottery kiln at high temperature. The unique baked clay hearts in brown, white or a mix of colours are coated with transparent and white glaze. Baked clay hearts are packed in corrugated cardboard packaging, which are hand made by father Ernest. In addition to clay hearts, the Toplak family produces Advent wreaths, pretzels and candelabra. At the competition for the best handicraft products of Goričko, daughter Zita was awarded a Certificate of Recognition for her product, a pendant – a heart with a rose made of white clay. In this way, Zita found a job for herself, since it is hard to find work in the region.

Prekmurska remenica
Elizabeta Urisk lives in the same village. For many years she has been colouring so-called "prekmurske remenice" – Easter eggs – using a batik technique. They have been made in Goričko for over a hundred years. Elizabeta studied the batik technique and learnt how to colour the eggs. She paints the eggs with hot wax in traditional motifs and flowery patterns. She uses red and black paint, as it was traditionally used in the past. She also manufactures etched and lace Easter eggs. She holds exhibitions in many places in Slovenia, Hungary, Austria and France.

Honey Biscuits for Christmas
Educational worker Loreta Solarič, also from Dobrovnik, bakes honey biscuits. She started to make honey biscuits two years ago, by learning the craft from her mother-in-law and improved her knowledge at the handicraft workshop, which was organised in Dobrovnik with support from the Ministry of Culture and the European Regional Development Fund. The workshop was organised by the Pannart handicraft house, which houses a permanent exhibition of traditional handicraft industries. The exhibition presents pottery products, honey-made products and basketry made of straw, leaves and rods. The Pannart handicraft house is the centre and driving force of the handicraft industry in the area.

We asked Mrs Solarič how to bake honey biscuits. She said that first you make the dough, which is not very simple, since she needed quite some time before she learnt to do it properly. If the dough is not kneaded thoroughly, it holds air, which is not good, since the dough remains sticky. Then the dry components have to be mixed, flour and sugar sifted, baking soda and spices added. The dough should rest for 3–4 days to dry out and become firm and suitable for baking. After baking, she leaves the biscuits to rest for some days for them to dry. She makes the icing by mixing egg white and powdered sugar. The mixture should not be too liquid or too firm. At the end, she decorates the biscuits with motifs of flowers, tulips and birds. The essential ingredients in honey dough are honey and spices. The honey must be warmed up to a proper temperature, to liquefy so that it can be more easily mixed with the flour. However, there are many possibilities when choosing spices for honey biscuits. Ready-made mixtures which can be bought in a shop can be used for honey biscuits or you can make your own mixture of spices. The selection and combination of spices is optional, so the biscuits can be made with powdered ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, white pepper, coriander, nutmeg or vanilla. All this creates a typical Christmas aroma.

It is said that honey biscuits radiate love and bring smiles to people’s faces. On behalf of the Sinfo Editorial Board, I extend to you all best wishes for the year ahead and hope you receive as many honey biscuits, love and smiles as possible.

Vesna Žarkovič, SINFO