Swedish Spice Cookies

Your new family tradition: my mother-in-law's famous pepparkakor recipe

These cookies are, without a doubt, my favourite thing to eat at Christmas. Well before her son and I were married, Karen’s Christmas cookies held a special place in my heart. (I’ve known the family since I was 14 but that, my friends, is for another day.) I believe I may have even received a box of them in a care package when I lived in Australia. They’re the ultimate festive cookie — pretty cut-outs, sweet and spicy, warm and comforting with cinnamon and cloves, cardamom and ginger.

But no matter how many times I make them, these cookies will never be mine, so let me hand the mic over to my mother-in-law, Karen.

---

Swedish Spice Cookies

by Karen

This recipe is from the blue and yellow cookbook – “Swedish Recipes,  old and new.” My grandmother gave it to me years ago, and it has always been a very special family cookbook. However, it seems like everyone with a Swedish grandmother has a copy.

One interesting thing about it is there are multiple recipes for each item.  It’s as if it was compiled after a church supper, and no one could agree about which family had the best recipe for herring (there are 12), rye bread (6), or glogg. I clearly can’t decide either, as the glogg recipes are labelled “ great” (1992), “the best “(1997) and “my favorite” (2002). Now I just use an amalgamation – but I always leave out the grain alcohol. 

This is my favorite “pepparkakor” recipe. It has a faint orange taste, which does not overwhelm the perfect spices. I’ve tried using zest, but that gives little bursts of orange, and so the spices are not the main flavor. I use a vegetable peeler to get the thinnest skin of orange, but do cook it and chop very finely. I like the cookies very thin and crisp, so they do cook faster – normal size cut-out cooks in about 6 minutes, tiny ones about 4. If they aren’t done, only add 20 seconds at a time, since they go from underdone to browned very quickly.

The reason I make a lot of tiny cookies is that after you’ve eaten too many cookies, there is always room for one little tiny spiced Christmas tree cookie.

Swedish Spice Cookies (Pepparkor)

Makes 40ish cookies. Karen recommends taking them off the sheet as soon as they’re out of the oven. They’ll last for many weeks if stored (and hidden away) properly. I’ve left out the orange peel when I couldn’t be bothered and they were just as delicious as ever. They’ll keep in a cookie tin for a long time if they can be resisted!