Czech Christmas Cookie Baking Class Prague

Included and Paid on Top

Included are all ingredients, equipment and aprons, packaging for your cookies, printed recipes, and a hot chocolate or traditional Czech mulled punch. Not included are transportation to the venue, catering outside the course and alcoholic drinks. Food and drinks you buy at Christmas market stalls afterwards are your own cost.

Confirm the inclusions on the booking page before you pay.

Money and Cards

The Czech Republic uses the Czech crown (CZK), not the euro. The Czech National Bank rate puts 1 USD at 21.834 CZK. Most market vendors accept cards, and otherwise an ATM stands inside the market.

You pay the class price of $87 per person through the booking platform.

Getting to Kroftova 329/1

Transport to the studio is not included. Prague public transport (PID) sells a 30-minute ticket at $1.65 (36 CZK) in the app, $1.79 (39 CZK) on paper or $1.92 (42 CZK) by SMS. A 90-minute ticket costs $2.11 (46 CZK) in the app, $2.29 (50 CZK) on paper or $2.52 (55 CZK) by SMS.

A 24-hour ticket costs $6.41 (140 CZK) in the app and $6.87 (150 CZK) on paper or SMS. SMS tickets are not valid on PID trains or line AE.

What to Bring and Who Can Join

Bring nothing: the listing states all ingredients, equipment and aprons are covered. The class is not suitable for wheelchair users, people with diabetes, visually impaired people, babies under 1 year, people over 95 or people with nut allergies. Minimum age otherwise not stated beyond the baby rule.

Instruction runs in English, Czech, Russian and Ukrainian. If your dates land on a weekend, remember the class runs on weekdays only, from 10:00.

The Four You Bake in Class

The class covers four classics. Vanilla crescents are delicate butter cookies rolled in vanilla sugar. Linzer cookies are buttery sandwich cookies filled with jam and cut into shapes, and they taste best after softening for about a day, so they improve on the journey home. Wasp nests are no-bake cookies filled with a rum-flavored cream and shaped like tiny beehives. Coconut balls are quick, fragrant and also no-bake.

Czech plates usually hold far more variety than four kinds. Gingerbread, nut cookies and coconut wreaths appear on family tables too, and the Christmas markets in Prague sell many of the same cookies.

• Vanilkové rohlíčky: vanilla crescents, the most common cookie
• Linecké cukroví: Linzer sandwich cookies with jam
• Vosí hnízda: wasp nests with rum-flavored cream
• Kokosové kuličky: coconut balls

Bear Paws and Their Legend

One cookie shape the class does not cover is the bear paw. Czech Centers, which promote Czech culture abroad, note that bear-paw cookies date back to at least the 16th century. By legend they protected homes and families from bad luck.

You will meet them in museum shops and market stalls rather than on this course.

Step by Step

Arrive at Kroftova 329/1 for a weekday morning start at 10:00. The first 25 minutes are an introduction to the history and traditions behind Czech holiday baking. Then you bake under step-by-step guidance, preparing wasp nests, vanilla crescents, coconut balls and Linzer cookies from scratch.

While the cookies bake you can drink the included hot chocolate or mulled punch. You leave with your cookies in packaging and the printed recipes. No end time is stated, and no clock time should be guessed by adding durations.

Who It Is Not for

The listing rules out wheelchair users, people with diabetes, visually impaired people, babies under 1 year, people over 95 and people with nut allergies. Wasp nests are filled with a rum-flavored cream, so ask the studio about the recipe if alcohol matters to you. Classes need at least 2 participants to run.

Ten to Twenty Kinds per Family

Many Czech families bake 10 or even 20 different cookie varieties through December, filling December weekends with production lines of butter dough and jam. Folklore ties 12 varieties to the 12 months of the year, one lucky kind for each month ahead. This class teaches 4 of the classics in 2 hours, a small sample of a much bigger home tradition.

Shoe Boxes on Balconies

Cookies are stored in shoe boxes, often seen on balconies along Prague's residential streets, where the cold keeps them fresh. Plates of mixed cukroví appear at workplaces, where a light one-upmanship runs over whose assortment has the most kinds. Once you have baked your own four, you will recognise the shapes at every market stall.

Dates and Hours

Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square run from 28 November to 6 January, daily 10:00-22:00, so they work after any class. Náměstí Míru runs 20 November to 24 December, 10:00-20:00. Republic Square runs 25 November to 24 December, hours not stated on the city page.

Tylovo náměstí runs 26 November to 24 December, hours not stated. The three smaller markets run to 24 December.

What to Add Before or After

The studio sits in Smíchov, and the Christmas Lemarket design market runs at the Národní dům na Smíchově, 11-13 December from 11:00 to 19:00, an easy combination with a 10:00 class. MINT Market Praha Christmas runs in the Holešovice Market Hall on 28-29 November from 10:00, on the other side of the river.

This page does not replace a walk. If you want cookies tasted rather than baked, Prague Christmas Markets with Locals includes Czech Christmas cookies and a hot drink over 2 hours 45 minutes for $96.56 per person. For food more broadly, the Prague Christmas Street Food Tour covers Old Town Christmas spots for $112 per person over 2 hours. The full comparison of Prague Christmas market tours sits on the homepage.