Swedish Spice Cookies (Pepparkakkor)

This is, without a doubt, my favorite thing to eat at Christmas. Well before her son and I were married, these cookies held a special place in my heart. They’re the ultimate Christmas cookie - pretty cut-outs, sweet and spicy, warm and comforting with cinnamon and cloves, cardamom and ginger.

Here’s how Karen tells it:

Swedish Spice cookies, by Karen

This recipe is from the blue and yellow cookbook – “Swedish Recipes,  old and new.” My grandmother gave it to me years ago, and it has always been a very special family cookbook. However, it seems like everyone with a Swedish grandmother has a copy.

One interesting thing about it is there are multiple recipes for each item.  It’s as if it was compiled after a church supper, and no one could agree about which family had the best recipe for herring (there are 12), rye bread (6), or glogg. I clearly can’t decide either, as the glogg recipes are labelled “ great” (1992), “the best “(1997) and “my favorite” (2002). Now I just use an amalgamation – but I always leave out the grain alcohol. 

This is my favorite “pepparkakor” recipe. It has a faint orange taste, which does not overwhelm the perfect spices. I’ve tried using zest, but that gives little bursts of orange, and so the spices are not the main flavor. I use a vegetable peeler to get the thinnest skin of orange, but do cook it and chop very finely. I like the cookies very thin and crisp, so they do cook faster – normal size cut-out cooks in about 6 minutes, tiny ones about 4. If they aren’t done, only add 20 seconds at a time, since they go from underdone to browned very quickly.

The reason I make a lot of tiny cookies is that after you’ve eaten too many cookies, there is always room for one little tiny spiced Christmas tree cookie.

Swedish Spice Cookies (Pepparkor)

Makes 40 cookies. Karen recommends taking the cookies off the sheet as soon as they’re out of the oven. They’ll last weeks stored (and hidden away) properly.

1 cup (113 grams) butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup dark corn syrup (light works, too)

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons warm water

2 teaspoons candied peel, minced very finely

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

4 cups flour

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light. Stir in the corn syrup. Dissolve the baking soda in the warm water, then mix that into the big bowl. Sift together the flour and spices in a bowl with the minced peel, then add that to the mixture, too. Chill for several hours.

Preheat oven to 350F/175C. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8” thick. You’ll need lots of extra flour on hand to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and surface. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes out of dough, and arrange cookies on ungreased baking tray for 6 minutes or so. (They go from soft to burnt in a second, so after a few minutes, keep a close eye on them.)