Swedish Gingerbread Cookies Recipe (Pepparkakor)
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If you’ve ever been to an IKEA during the Christmas season, you’ve seen the red metal containers of heart shaped gingerbread cookies. We call them pepparkakor (“pepper cakes”) and they are thin, crispy spiced cookies. They are nothing like the American style gingerbread cookies because they are well spiced and crispy and come in the shape of hearts or stars – no gingerbread people here.
I pulled my recipe from the book The Art of the Cookie. It is still a classic in my kitchen (and I keep very few cookbooks today). The only updates I made are adding more spices and rolling the cookies thin. Besides, if you know me, I’m all about the spice.
Diwali Spiced Cookies
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon clove
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
1 cup (8 oz) butter – room temperature
1 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 egg
1. In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and all the spices.
2. With an electric mixer (now is the time to pull out that Kitchen Aid stand mixer), beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Whatever you do, make sure the butter is at room temperate. Not hard, not melted, not semi melt – room temperate: soft to the touch, but does not collapse.
3. Add the molasses and egg and continue to mix on medium low (I use setting 4). Scrap down the edges as needed.
4. Gently fold in the flour into the mix. I add a third of the flour at a time. This allows all the ingredients properly to incorporate nicely.
5. Press the dough into three circular discs. Refrigerate for at least one hour, or until firm to the touch.
6. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
7. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Clear out a surface area to roll out the cookies. Lightly dust the area with flour. With your rolling pin (don’t forget to flour that too), roll out the disc to 1/4 in thickness. For the cookie cutters, think of stars and symmetrical cutters. I used an Easter star, the star of David, and a hamsa for my cookies.
9. Transfer the cookies to the lined cookie tray, and space about an inch apart.
10. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Set your timer for 7 minutes to check on them though. My oven runs hot so most of my cookies are done several minutes sooner.
11. Once done, transfer the cookies to a sheet or cooling rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes.
Enjoy! Bon app!