Best 8 Swedish Pepparkakor Recipes

TRADITIONAL SWEDISH PEPPARKAKOR

Steps:

• Sift the flour together with the baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and cardamom in a mixing bowl.
• Beat the butter together with the white and brown sugars in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and corn syrup until smooth. Gradually stir in the flour mixture until evenly blended. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and wrap tightly each with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
• Using 1 portion at a time, work on a floured surface and roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutter, and place 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in preheated oven until set, about 5 minutes. Cool completely. Store in tightly covered tins.

PEPPARKAKOR (SWEDISH GINGER COOKIES)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and salt.
• In a small saucepan over moderate heat, warm the corn syrup and orange zest. Add the butter and sugar and continue warming, stirring occasionally, until melted. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Add the egg and whisk to combine. Pour over the flour mixture and stir to combine. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in a double layer of plastic wrap, and chill overnight.
• Arrange racks in the upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 375°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with nonstick baking mats, such as Silpats, or parchment paper.
• Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out a portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut the dough into desired shapes, such as circles, stars, hearts, bells, gingerbread men, and Christmas trees. Transfer to the prepared baking sheets and sprinkle with the pearl sugar. Bake, switching the cookies between the upper and lower racks and rotating the baking sheets about halfway through baking, until the edges are just beginning to brown, 7 to 8 minutes. Watch the cookies carefully to make sure they don't get too brown.
• Let the cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to let cool completely. Continue rolling and cutting out the rest of the cookie dough and baking the cookies on cooled baking sheets. DO AHEAD: Pepparkakor can be baked ahead and kept, stored between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container, for up to 2 weeks, or frozen up to 1 month.

TRADITIONAL PEPPARKAKOR (SWEDISH SPICE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Sift together dry ingredients; set aside.
• Cream sugar and butter.
• Add egg and molasses.
• Blend in dry ingredients thoroughly. Let dough stand overnight for easy rolling.
• On a well-floured board, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness.
• Cut into shapes (we usually make gingerbread people) and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
• NOTE: Prep time does not include time to let dough rest overnight.

SWEDISH PEPPARKAKOR CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a bread pan.
• Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and cloves in a large bowl.
• Beat egg and milk together in a separate bowl; add to flour mixture and stir to moisten dry ingredients evenly. Pour mixture into a bread pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

SWEDISH PEPPARKAKOR

Steps:

• Mix all-purpose flour, pastry flour, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and black pepper together in a bowl and set aside.
• Combine molasses, sugar, and maple syrup in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly to dissolve and remove from heat when a small foam rises to the surface, about 3 minutes. Continue stirring and allow to cool slightly; add butter and let cool to room temperature. Add egg.
• Pour molasses mixture into flour mixture in the bowl and mix until crumbles hold together when pressed. Knead for 2 minutes, focusing on any dry bits. Form into a flat log and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour to overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Cut dough log into small sections and allow to warm up slightly before rolling out between 2 layers of parchment paper to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut shapes with a floured cookie cutter or pastry wheel. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 12 minutes; remove cookies before they brown. Cool on a rack.

SWEDISH CHRISTMAS GINGER SNAPS (PEPPARKAKOR)

Steps:

• Put butter into a large mixing bowl. Combine water, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a saucepan. Heat to boiling, boil 1 minute, stirring. Pour hot spice mixture over butter; stir to melt butter. Sift flour, measure 2 cups, and sift again with baking soda. Add to spice mixture; stir to blend thoroughly. Cover dough tightly or wrap in waxed paper or aluminum foil. Chill in refrigerator 12 hours or overnight. Cut off small, workable portions of dough. Roll each out very thin (about 1/8" thick) on a lightly floured board. Cut into shapes with fancy cooky cutters. With flexible spatula, lift cookies onto greased baking sheet. Bake in a moderately hot oven (375 degrees farenheit) about 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. Make icing: Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Beat in vanilla and enough powdered sugar so that mixture holds soft peaks when beater is lifted. Spoon icing into force bag. Decorate cooled cookies. Variation: Do not roll out chilled dough. Instead, pinch off small portions and roll, between palms, into balls about 3/4" in diameter. Drop balls into granulated sugar to coat all sides. Bake as for cut-out cookies.

PEPPARKAKOR (SWEDISH GINGER COOKIES)

Steps:

• 1. Heat molasses in small saucepan to boiling point. Boil 1 minute.
• 2. Add sugar and butter and stir until butter is melted. Cool.
• 3. Beat in egg.
• 4. Sift together flour, salt, soda and spices.
• 5. Add to first mixture and mix thoroughly. Cover bowl tightly and chill overnight.
• 6. Roll out a portion of the dough at a time on lightly floured pastry cloth. Roll out thin.
• 7. Cut into desired shapes.
• 8. Bake in a moderate oven (350F) 6 to 8 minutes.
• 9. Notes: The dough may be shaped into a roll and wrapped in waxed paper. Chill thoroughly overnight or longer.
• 10. Slice thin and bake in moderate oven (350F). These should be stored in an air-tight container - allow flavor to "ripen".

SWEDISH PEPPARKAKOR

Steps:

• 1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugars and butter/shortening mixture. Blend in egg, molasses or corn syrup and coffee. Sift together soda, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, salt and 3 cups of flour. Combine to form dough, adding more flour if necessary.
• 2. Refrigerate until firm. Roll thin; use cookie cutter to cut shapes and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.