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Pepparkakor = Ginger Biscuits (Cookies)
Start cookies a day ahead as the dough should be chilled overnight.
- 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1-1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1-1/2 tablespoons ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon powdered cloves
- 2/3 cup water
- 13 tablespoons butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
Mix flour and baking soda in a bowl; set aside.
In a heavy-bottomed, medium pot, combine molasses, sugars, spices, and water; bring to a
boil, stirring. Add chunks of butter. Remove from heat, continue stirring until butter is melted.
Pour this mixture into a large bowl and add the flour and baking soda mixture, stirring until a dough is formed.
When cooled, shape dough into a loaf, wrap in plastic wrap and then foil, and chill overnight.
If you don't intend to bake all of the dough at once, cut off only as much as you need, then return the wrapped loaf to the refrigerator. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or until it warms up enough to roll.
Preheat oven to 200°C =375° F.
Lightly grease sheet pan.
Roll dough out on a lightly floured board
with a lightly floured rolling pin. The thinner you roll the dough, the crisper the cookies will be. Cut into shapes and place on the baking sheet.
Bake for about 10 minutes, or until cookies are browned. Remove from oven and transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack. Cookies can be stored in metal tins for several weeks.
Makes about 100 cookies.
A Bit of Culinary History:
The Swedish word, pepparkakor, literally translates as pepper cakes. The first pepparkakor were honey cakes, flavored with pepper and other spices such as cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and anise, and were imported from German monks beginning in the 1300s. Over time, the pepper was eliminated from most but not all Swedish pepparkakor recipes; and honey was replaced by beet sugar syrup. Today, Swedes buy gingersnaps year-round from bakeries and grocery stores. But for many families, baking pepparkakor at home, using cookie cutters shaped like Christmas goats, pigs, angels, hearts, stars, men and women, remains an essential part of the Christmas festivities.
Mjuk pepparkaka = Spice Cake
Ingredients;
- 100 grammes butter (6 tablespoons)
- 2 egg
- 2 1/4 decilitre = 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 3/4 decilitre = 1.2 cups wheat cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1.5 decilitre = 3/4 cup sour cream
Preheat oven to 175°C (=350 ° F.)
Grease and flour cake pan.
Melt butter over low heat and cool.
Whisk eggs and brown sugar together.
In another bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and spices until blended.
Add sour cream and melted butter into the egg and sugar mixture; stir until thoroughly blended.
Add flour mixture and stir to combine the ingredients.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack. Remove from pan.
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