Swedish Pepparkakor (Traditional Gingersnap Cookies)

by | Dec 5, 2020 | Baking, Christmas, Cookies, Dessert, Family Favorites, Recipes

Swedish Pepparkakor (Traditional Gingersnap Cookies)
Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

These Pepparkakor are the very thin, crispy, spicy type of gingersnaps that are my absolute favorite cookies for Christmas time. The literal translation is Pepper Cakes, but as far as I can tell the Swedish word kakor is used to refer to cookies, biscuits, cakes or any small baked treat. There are loads of recipes out there, but the traditional Swedish type I remember making with my mom actually includes a bit of pepper. I don’t see many modern Gingersnap recipes that include pepper, but it really does give the cookies a nice little bite.

The dough for these cookies needs to be chilled before rolling out and cutting, so give yourself time for that. Alternatively, you can form the dough into a log, freeze for a bit, and then slice them into very thin wafers. I honestly don’t remember my mom rolling out and cutting cookies very often. I don’t think she had the patience for that. So we usually just kept a roll of this dough in the freezer like slice and bake refrigerator cookies. And it’s so convenient around the holidays to just have that on hand to bake cookies at a moments notice when friends stop by (well, when that used to happen in pre-COVID days!).

At Christmas time we also made Pepparnotter (Pepper Nuts) out of a very similar dough. These were small balls, a little larger than a hazelnut, a bit smaller than a walnut, and sometimes with a nut smooshed onto the top. In this shape the cookies really were more like nuts that you could eat by the handful… but more about those in a future post.

I prefer the  crunchy, light texture of the thin pepparkakors, and of course, the fact that they are perfect to dunk in milk, coffee or tea probably makes me more partial to them. If you roll out the dough it’s perfect for making gingerbread men, and to make all types of delightful holiday shapes. They are beautiful adorned with white decorators icing, but I don’t have the talent (or patience) for that, and I actually prefer them without the extra sweetness.

 

Print

Swedish Pepparkakor (Swedish Gingersnap Cookies)

  • Author: Stacey McNeill
Print

Description

These crispy and spicy cookies need to be rolled (or sliced) very thin… like 1/8 of an inch. So make sure the dough is properly chilled before baking. They keep well and stay crunchy for a long time (probably 2 weeks or so) as long as they’re stored in an airtight container.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups (445 grams) all-purpose flour (plus a bit more for rolling out the dough)
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (finely ground)
  • 8 ounces (2 sticks) butter
  • 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/3 cup molasses

Instructions

  1. Combine dry ingredients (the 3 cups of flour through pepper) in a medium sized bowl. Whisk to combine.
  2. In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and molasses and beat until well combined.
  3. Add dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture gradually, about a third at a time. Mix gently just until the dry ingredients become well incorporated. Make sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl often.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a sheet of waxed paper or plastic wrap and use your  hands to push it together, making it into a ball (or turn it into logs if you plan to slice the dough rather than roll it out). Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least two hours. If you’re planning to slice cookies from logs of dough, it’s easier to get them very thin if you freeze the dough for a bit first.
  5. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
  6. FOR ROLLED COOKIES: Roll out pieces of the dough very thin, using parchment or waxed paper and a little dusting of flour to keep the dough from sticking. Roll the dough to about 1/8th of an inch, cut with cookie cutters, and place on parchment paper lined cookies sheets.
  7. FOR SLICED COOKIES: Make very thin slices of the cookie dough logs (about 1/8th of an inch), and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.
  8. TO BAKE: Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for about 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the size and shape of the cookies. You want to bake them until they are getting brown around the edges, and they appear to be dry.
  9. Move the parchment with the cookies to a cooling rack, and allow cookies to cool completely. They will become more crisp and crunchy as they cool.
  10. Store in an air tight container to keep the crunchy texture.