There is no other aroma that reminds me more of the festive season than freshly-baked pepparkakor – so moreish that you can never just stop at one! Pepparkakor are delicate, incredibly light, thin, crisp cookies – baked in hundreds in every Scandinavian home. These spiced, melt-in-the mouth biscuits are often shaped as hearts, pigs and goats. Mormor (granny) used to set aside a day to bake these fragrant gingersnaps to give to all the family in the festive season. I loved to assist her with the rolling and the cutting, they were one of many kakor that she baked in the month of December. However Pepparkakor are baked throughout the year in Sweden, but they’re especially popular at Christmas.
Originally these cookies were far spicier than they are today. Pepparkakor means pepper biscuits, not ingefärakakor – ginger biscuits, because they contained lots of pepper. Nowadays many modern recipes do not contain any pepper at all and neither does mine. In my method cinnamon and ground cloves dominate with background flavours of ginger and cardamom.
These delicate cookies are very simple to make, but fresh spices are crucial to the taste. Buy the cardamom pods or the seeds and grind them as you need. Store small amounts if you don’t bake that often, as stale spices lose their flavour. The dough itself takes less than half an hour to make; however, it must rest in the fridge overnight before you can roll and stamp out the shapes. Pepparkakor should be very thin. On the other hand, if you wish to hang them on your tree, I would recommend making them a little thicker.
Tips
- Plan a day ahead – the dough must rest in the fridge overnight.
- Take small amounts of dough out of the fridge at a time, roll and cut. At room temperature it is far more difficult to handle.
- When I bake these I roll thin ones for eating and slightly thicker ones for tree decorations.
- If you are good at icing make a thick royal icing and get your piping bag out. If you don’t feel confident using a piping bag, just make a thinner icing and flick the fork to and fro above the biscuits.
- Add 75g almonds slivers, (chopped) to the dough.
- This recipe can be halved successfully.
It might surprise you to know that these ginger thins are truly delicious topped with a slice of creamy blue cheese, such as Stilton or gorgonzola. Try it, is so good!
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE FOR PEPPARKAKOR?
I would love to know how they turned out. Please let me know by commenting below. Or you could snap a photo and share and tag it on Instagram @nordickitchenstories.
Pepparkakor Swedish Ginger Thins
Equipment
- Rolling pin and cookie cutters
Ingredients
- 250 g Butter, salted room temperature
- 1 Tbsp Cinnamon
- 1 Tsp Ground Cloves
- ½ Tbsp Ground Ginger
- ½ Tbsp Cardamom freshly ground
- 180 g Caster Sugar
- 40 g Golden Syrup
- 60 g Molasses (Black treacle)
- 75 g Water weigh in grams for accuracy
- 500 g Plain Flour
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
To decorate
- royal icing
Instructions
- Blend the butter and all the spices in a large bowl or you can do this in a stand mixer, using the paddle attached.
- Heat the sugar, molasses, golden syrup and water until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes and then pour over the butter mixture and stir. Cool to room temperature.
- Blend the flour and bicarbonate and then mix into the butter and sugar mixture. The mixture is fairly loose but it's now going to be refrigerated for roughly 8 hours, divide into 4 and wrap in clingfilm. This dough can be kept in the fridge for 2 weeks or frozen for up to a 3 months.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (fan). Take only a small amount of the dough from the fridge and lightly flour your surface and roll out the dough 2mm thick. Stamp out your shapes with your chosen cookie cutters. With the help of a thin bladed knife, transfer carefully to the lined baking trays. Bake the biscuits for 5-6 minutes. They should start to feel hard around the edges as they cool and eventually become really crisp – they need to have a nice ‘snap’. Store in an airtight container for several weeks. *If you are making Christmas decorations remember to make a hole for the ribbon or string to go through. Do this as soon as they come out of the oven, I use the tip of a very small piping nozzle.
To Decorate
- Mix royal icing with a little water to a pipe-able consistency, or make your own, see notes below.
Notes
The Scandinavian Open Sandwich
I found a slightly different recipe with a cookie cutter and the wishing cookie tale. I am so excited to make these cookies.
Glad to hear it Sarah, let me know what you think.🎄
My son and I made these biscuits yesterday; best recipe I’ve tried and really straightforward. Many thanks
It’s great to hear you like my recipe. Thanks for taking the time to comment Lisa.
When I was a child the Pogen Family bakery made a version of these wonderful cookies. I could eat bag full bag by myself. Pogen’s bakery is long gone but not my memories of the thin crispy ginger snap. I’ve made your recipe twice, first time not rolling them thin enough. It gets close to what I remember. I did substitute bakers ammonia for the bicarbonate of soda. That change made them more crispy. I’m going to step up the ginger on my next batch. Thank you for posting this recipe, it taste really good and gave me a start on recreating a childhood memory.
Lovely to hear your story Robert. Rolling the dough very thin does take a little practise but it’s definitely worth persevering. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment.
I have not tried these yet. What is golden syrup? Is it corn syrup or maple syrup or something else?
Hi Vicki, if you’re from the USA, having googled it, you’re looking for light treacle. However I think corn syrup would be ok too.
God Jul
This is a superb recipe easy to make. I used bamboo skewer as a thickness guide which worked well. Now the time consuming part of decorating might enlist a couple of little helpers. thank you so much for sharing the recipe with the world.
Hej, Chris I’m delighted you like my recipe. The bamboo skewers are an excellent idea! I’m sure your little helpers will love decorating ;-))
So excited to make these this year! Do you know where your cookie cutters came from? I’ve been trying to find some good ones but all the Christmas cutters I’ve come across are so cheesey and these are so simple and delicate! Thanks again for the beautiful recipe.
Hi Laina, most of my cutters were bought in Sweden sometime ago. I did have a look on the web for you. If you search ‘Swedish Christmas cookie cutters’ some nice ones come up. Hope that helps. Glad you like my recipe☺️
There’s no egg mentioned? Is that correct?
Can’t wait to make these with my daughter!
That’s right, there’s no egg in this recipe.
Just checking this recipe contains no egg
Other recipes seem to include at least 1 egg
Hi Pippa,
There’s no egg in this recipe :-))
Great recipe and good instructions, now our Christmas break is complete, plus they make perfect giveaways. Thanks and God Jul!
Glad you like the recipe Natalya and yes they make the perfect gift. God Jul!🎄
Thanks For Sharing this Amazing Recipe. My Family Loved It. I will be sharing this Recipe with my Friends. Hope They will like it.
Thanks for the recipe! Can these be made thicker? Win the still be crispy is they are 5-6mm thick?
They can be made thicker, just adjust the baking time. I make the slightly thicker for tree decorations.
Thank you. How long would you bake them for if they’re 5-6mm thick?
Difficult to say, firstly I suggest lowering the oven temp to 180C fan. You’re looking for a deep brown colour, try baking 1 for 10 minutes (they harden as they cool). Add a minute or 2 if it’s not crisp.
Hope that helps.
Hi, I would love to make these lovely ginger thins, could you tell me what nozzle you have used for decorating them, please ?
I make a piping bag with grease proof paper. If you’re unable to do this I would invest in a Jem piping nozzle, size #5. Hope that help Elise.
Thank you Louise very much appreciate it. 🙂
I have been making these for three years now – following your receipe. The whole family love it and I love been able to bring back some swedish traditions.
I’m delighted to hear this Chloe. There’s nothing quite like the aroma of pepparkakor, it’s so festive.
This recipe took a few goes to dial in but 180c for 6mins 30secs (fan oven, the manufacturer’s recommended biscuit shelf) and lovely and thin dough was absolutely perfect. We lived for 2 years in Sweden when I was a child; they taste of Swedish Christmas. Once I had bought a Dala Horse pastry cutter, it was perfect!
Next, I need to learn to make cinnamon buns.
Thank you for the recipe, v appreciated.
I’m so pleased you like my recipe and that you found the right settings for your oven. I look forward to reading about your cinnamon buns Chris! :-))
I made these for my Swedish/Norwegian in-laws last December and they went down an absolute treat and my partner, who wasn’t a massive fan of the ones he got as a kid, loved these because he thought the spices were better balanced than the super gingery ones he remembered. Will absolutely be making these every year as part of a new Christmas tradition. They are delicious! They also kept really well in a sealed biscuit tin!
So lovely to hear Zoey, I’m so pleased they were a hit with your family :-))
Can I use a plant based type “butter “ instead of real butter?
Hi Carmen, yes you can replace the butter with plant based, not a problem.
How long do they last or can you freeze them please
Hi Dawn,
No need to freeze. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 month, un-iced.
Thank you so much if I ice them how long will they keep please
I made the mix and put in fridge but haven’t got round to baking them been 4 days will they still be ok to bake?
It will be absolutely fine for up to 10 days after making and you can even freeze the dough.
Thank you for sharing this recipe, Louise. I made these pepparkakor for my partner’s family who have a Swedish background and they loved them! My partner was particularly impressed with how authentically Swedish they were. For fellow vegans, I just substituted the butter for a plant-based alternative (nuttelex) which worked well. I did find the dough a bit tricky to roll out as it was still quite sticky even after a night in the fridge but I just added more flour to the bench which helped! Will definitely be making these again next year 🙂
Great to hear Merryn. The texture of the dough takes times to get used to and a little extra flour isn’t a problem. Happy to hear you’ll be making them again.
Do you have this recipe converted to American measurements? If not I’ll have to buy a scale, I think.
Im afraid not Lauren. I do recommend using scales for all baking recipes though. All the best.
These are delightful, a perfect Christmas treat and a lovely gift for neighbors who may not have tried them! We made them last Christmas and will make them again this Christmas for our family, extended family, and neighbors. All have enjoyed. If you are in the US like me, and unable to find golden syrup at the store, it is pretty easy to make golden syrup, and worth the time! Googling it will pop up a recipe pretty easily. Our favorite tradition is to make hearts and snowflakes, then place a cookie in the palm of the hand, make a wish, and press one finger in the center of the cookie until it breaks- if it breaks in 3 pieces, your wish will come true! Thanks for the great recipe, these taste like I ones I enjoyed while visiting friends in Sweden Christmas 2011. Good memories!!
Hi Beth, good to know re. making golden syrup. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment.
After the dough has chilled in the refrigerator for at least eight hours and is ready to be rolled out for cookies, should it be allowed to warm slightly before rolling? The dough is quite firm when taken directly from the refrigerator, and I’m unsure how workable it will be in that state.
Hi Mark, It is firm, but it softens quite quickly. Once you’ve rolled out a batch you see how the dough handles.
Thank you!