7 cookies 1: pepparkaker and similar

PHOTOS









In the third kitchen cabinet drawer down, two drawers under the cutting board which pulls out, I´ve got  lots of cookie cutters in all shapes and sizes. Buffalo, long horn steer, Swedish dala horses, stars, moon, shamrock, moose, heart, etc.

Anything I don´t have, I also have graphite pencil, parchment paper and sharp scissors, sharp knives.  Decide what you want, draw it (or copy from a drawing if you can´t draw) onto parchment paper, cut out with sharp scissors. When you roll out the dough, take a sharp knife, and either first lightly draw the design with the end of the knife then use the knife to cut out the shape, or just use the knife to cut around the template.

1) Tall tiny troll

The shape I don´t have for cookies which I like is a tall small troll, a bit of a witches hat shape onto a elf like body. I drew them cut them out last year, and decided I will again this year. Either in one of the roll out gingerbread doughs, roll out sugarcookie dough or roll out dark chocolate sugarcookie dough (just add cocoa to Martha Stewart´s roll out sugar cookie dough).  As is, or you can decorate with paintbrushes dipped either in sugar glaze plain or coloured, or food coloring used as paint. You can add vanilla or a flavour to the food coloring or sugar glaze.

And/or put a hole in the cookie before baking then tie onto the tree or hang from the fireplace.

2) Heart

Hearts are very popular here, both in Sweden and Norway, for Christmas. Paperhearts made from two different colors of paper, woven together, to form a heart. Some are basic, some are slightly more complicated, some are extremely intricate, depending upon your skill with weaving paper shapes together! I make the basic ones, and am damn proud I can do even that finally! haha

PHOTO of last years

The usual color is white and red, but other colors are used also.

3) Gingerbread man
with heart cutout, raisin on edges feet, hands, head

4) Moose, Long horn steer, Dala
painted with colored glaze, food coloring, or left plain. Sugar cookie or gingerbread

5) Other
put hole in, hang from tree, can eat on Boxing Day

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*Recipe ONE (Swedish)
for slightly thick chewy molasses cookie, roll out cookie dough:

1 3/4 c flour
half c dark molasses brown sugar
quarter c butter, room temp, cubed
1 egg
3/8 c dark molasses (not treacle, molasses!)
half tsp baking soda
dash salt
spices (cinnamon, GINGER, cloves, cardamom, all spice, star anise, nutmeg)
grated orange peel, or lemon peel grated finely


Mix it all as usual, wet then dry, then add together. Chill in fridge, or freeze in a log shape for cutting discs later. Roll out as usual, cut, bake til done, depending on size of cookies. When baking try to have the same size shapes all together or some might get cooked, undercooked and overcooked (burnt) on the tray.  If hanging, cut hole for ribbon before baking.

bake in hote oven 350F, about 15 minutes for usual size cookie. Less or more for smaller or larger cookies.

Decorate and hang after cooling down all the way. If you want raisins in any cookies, do that also before baking!

You can decorate before baking also. "Paint" colors of food colouring onto shapes before baking, and it comes out darker, prettier, more integrated into the cookie. Do not do this with sugar glaze, as it will just turn icky or burn during baking.

You can decorate with colored sugar before baking, the coarse demerara sugar as is or colored, or fine sugar, or glitter sugar.

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*Recipe TWO (Swedish)
 for thin, crisp cookies, roll out recipe! VERY hard from fridge, so flatten into discs before putting in the fridge. Great for gingerbread and other cutouts, for gifting or hanging on the tree. Not chewy but crisp once baked. Not good for raisin faces/decorating with raisins before baking, as too thin to hold the raisins, once cooled the raisins fall off. The above recipe cookie once cooled are more thick and puffy, chewy type of gingerbread cookie. This recipe is closer to Norwegian pepparkaker. Would work for small gingerbread houses too.

2 sticks US size butter, or half a block of Norwegian smør. (1 cup butter, or 226.8 grams, or 16 TBS)

spices (GINGER, cinnamon, CARDAMOM, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, star anise)
dash salt

1 cup white sugar (if changing this to brown sugar at all or mixing, this will change the finished cookie. It is using ONLY white sugar which makes the cookie crisp, thin, breakable type cookie)

1 cup treacle (don´t waste molasses on this recipe, or just add a TBS for extra flavour instead of some of the treacle or similar)

1 egg large, or 2 small eggs (any fluffy beaten egg, or more egg, will also change the consistency of cookie. Do not use more egg or beat the egg first, just mix it in)

Heavy cream. 3 TBS. (Fløtt not matcreme)

FLOUR UNSIFTED do not sift! (it will change the cookie once cooled, to a more fluffy cookie) 5 cups of unsifted ww flour (what is really just dark looking white flour, or cake flour is fine)

1 tsp baking soda


1)
Melt the butter in a pan on the stovetop, add the spices, salt, sugar, treacle. Bring to a boil, stirring lots to not burn it. Set aside to cool, for a few hours, til warm to the touch.

2) Add the baking soda to the flour, and another dash salt, mix with wooden spoon.

3) Add the egg and cream together into the melted butter mixture. Slowly add this to the flour mixture, by hand with a wooden spoon. Form into a dough, then break off into smaller pieces, which you flatten into discs, then put in fridge. This dough gets hard once cold, so it will be easier to roll out in smaller pieces which are already in a abit of a roll out shape which is flattened already! Refrigerate, or freeze at this point for Christmas cookie use when time.

4)When time, or the next day, take out one piece at a time, roll out, to 1/4" thickness or thinner is ok, cut out shapes. The thinner this dough the crisper the cookie. Try to not use any more extra flour than necessary when rolling and cutting out.

5) Bake in the preheated oven, 325F /162C. til done. About 8-10 minutes for a usual sized cookie. More or less for other sized cookies, but make sure the cookies are the same size or some will be burnt and others not cooked enough if on the same tray.

Cool, decorate as usual. Same instructions as above, for decorating, hanging etc. YD: average for usual shape size cookies is 8-9 dozen. Less cookies the larger the cookie. Will make about 5 dozen of the large Dalas, long horn steer, buffalo etc sized cookies. about 12 dozen of the tiny stars or hearts.

Recipe is enough for one average usual sized gingerbread house! Basic winter chalet drawing cutouts for two sides, two long narrow rectangles for front and back, two large rectangles for roof, with leftovers for making window frames or details like cobbled roof tiles.

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* Recipe THREE
 My Italian recipe
Stem ginger recipe
great for something in between the two above. Cut out flowers, thin crisp but chewy still.

butter, 3/4 cup, room temp cubes

1 egg

1 cup sugar (half of white Tate& Lye fine, half of darkest brown molasses granulated sugar)

spices (GINGER, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, star anise)

fresh ginger, stem ginger in sugar or similar, about an inch or 2.

dark sulfur molasses (not treacle or corn syrup), 4 TBS

2 c flour, unsifted white or cake or a mix of ww and either of the first two

dash salt, 3 tsp baking soda

1) Mix all the ingredients, in whatever order is easiest. I mix everything by hand with wooden spoons, so it is easiest for me to mix the sugar, flour, spices, salt, baking soda. Crumble in the butter. Mix in the egg, molasses last.

2)chill overnight in discs, as in above recipes, roll out  1/8" or 1/4"cut etc as in above recipes.

3) Bake 325F/162C preheated oven, as above, til done, time depending on size of cookies.


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Recipe FOUR

For the trolls and moose cutouts! Thin, Norwegian recipe!


140 g smør (half cup plus 1 TBS)
115ml treacle (half cup)
600 g sukker (1 1/3 c)
85 ml fløtt (third cup plus 1 TBS)
cloves, black pepper, GINGER, cinnamon, cardamom, salt

1 tsp baking powder (if you put more, the finished cookie will be puffier than I like)

450 g flour

1) Cream butter, treacle, sugar, spices, baking powder, salt
2) stir in cream fløtt etc and flour. Mix well.
3) form into flatten disks etc as other recipes...
4)180C preheated oven, til done, depending on size and shape of cookies, as in other recipes.


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TIPS: roll out a little of the dough at a time, on parchment paper, both under and over, so it does not pull apart or stick to anything. Use a spatula to remove the finished cut outs. OR, roll them on parchement on the baking sheet, then pull off the excess from around the cookie cutter if the cutter is very intricate or difficult to use. I do the latter when I am drawing and cutting out my own shapes with a sharp knife, as it is easiest! This works with sugar cookie dough, gingerbread dough. lots of roll out cookie dough that I use.