Pepparkakor

It's that time of year when everyone's talking about baking cookies and I want to bake all kinds of cookies -- shortbreads, Mexican wedding cookies, pumpkin cookies, chocolate chip cookies, ginger cookies, jam thumbprints... But alas, there's the fat to consider. So we'll just go step by step, maybe one cookie recipe per month?

I found the perfect excuse to bake: It's one of my dearest friend's birthday next week and I know she's never eaten pepparkakor, the famous Swedish ginger spiced cookies that are everywhere this time of year. So I've baked some for her and shipped it off in a cute Swedish cookie tin.

My husband's grandmother makes the best pepparkakor ever, and for our wedding present, she gave us the recipe. We were over the moon to finally have her secret recipe, but erm, it was a little difficult to know what a "glass" of syrup is and that sort of thing. So until I figure out the measurements, we're going with another recipe.

This recipe is lovely because it's so EASY that a child could (and should) make it, and uses considerably less butter than most recipes, and the dough is so delicious just eaten raw! I am no raw dough eater, but this dough got to me somehow! Well, also because it doesn't have egg in it. Despite that, the cookies turn out tender and crisp and melt in your mouth!

Most pepparkakor recipes advise to chill the dough overnight, because it enhances the flavors and makes it easier to roll out. I have to agree because I impatiently made the cookies right away and the spices weren't as pronounced as from the ones I chilled overnight.

And oh, I was so eager to make button shapes after seeing them on this blog. They look so adorable and I imagine it's good portion control. I just used a champagne glass to cut out the cookies, and used a smaller glass for that inner button circle, and a wooden skewer for the button holes.

I'm adding measurements for USA and Sweden for your convenience. So bake some cookies for someone you like, and let me know how it turns out!

Pepparkakor
Adapted from recepten.se
Makes about 60 button-cookies

75g  (5 1/2 tbs)  salted butter
105g  (1/2 cup or 1 1/4 dl)  sugar
2 tbs  (2 msk)  Swedish brown syrup or golden syrup or honey
230g  (2 cups or 3 3/4 dl)  all purpose flour
2 tsp  (2 tsk)  ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp  (1 1/2 tsk)  ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp  (1/4 tsk)  ground cloves
1 tsp  (1 tsk)  baking soda
1/8 tsp  (1/8 tsk)  salt (add 1/4 tsp salt if using unsalted butter)
1/4 cup  (1/2 dl)  water

1. Melt the butter and add sugar, syrup and salt and mix with a rubber spatula until well combined. Mix in the water.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and baking soda.

3. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix with spatula until it comes together. Use your hands to form into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap or place in a sealed container. Refrigerate overnight.

4. PREHEAT oven to 180C / 350F. Take out the dough from the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 5 - 10 minutes. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. (You can roll it out into 1/4 inch thickness for thicker cookies). Using a cookie cutter or glass, cut out shapes.

5. Place the cookie shapes on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 5 - 7 minutes, until golden. Transfer to a cooling rack immediately after they come out of the oven. Cool and store in an airtight container.