Swedish Gingerbread Cookies (Pepparkakor)
Create a Christmas tradition with Swedish gingerbread cookies, Pepparkakor. A hint of orange flavor make these cookies extra ordinary delicious.
Every Christmas season, I bake a type of ginger cookies; Ginger Snaps, Soft and Chewy Belsnickle Ginger Cookies, and etc. This year, I made these adorable Swedish gingerbread cookies known as Pepparkakor.
Along with the Swedish butter cookies, and braided cardamom bread, these cookies are perfect for holiday season.
As you can tell, they are just too cute to eat but once you taste it, you will be glad that you made them.
These Swedish gingerbread cookies are extra-ordinary delicious. The aroma of spices brings Christmas nostalgia to everyone.
Above all, a hint of orange flavor make them even more delicious and outstanding from other gingerbread cookies recipe. Although, I love the combination of orange zest & spice in these cookies, you can omit the zest if you are not fond of orange flavor.
Additionally, these are fun cookies to make with young children. You can use the classic gingerbread man cookie cutter or any Christmas themed cookie cutter of your choice to brighten up your holiday. I chose a moose shaped cookie cutter. If you are looking for the same cookie cutter I used, check below.
Spices for Swedish gingerbread cookies
- Ginger
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Cardamom
- Allspice
Cardamom is a widely used spice in Scandinavian baking. You will find many of classic Hygge or Fika recipes involve cardamom in some way, from yeast cardamom buns to cardamom cake. This lovely aromatic spice is a must for the Swedish Gingerbread cookies, so don’t skip it.
Other Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Baking Soda
- Sugar
- Dark brown sugar
- Molasses
- Heavy cream
Chilling the cookie dough
This Swedish gingerbread cookies are a cutout cookies recipe. Which means you will need to chill the dough before you roll dough. The dough can be chilled in the fridge from 2 hrs up to 3 days. This cookie dough freezes beautifully. It can freeze up to a 3 month.
How to make Swedish Gingerbread Cookies
First of all, whisk flour, baking powder, salt and all the spices together.
Then, cream butter and sugars. Add the molasses, whipping cream and orange zest; mix well. You can omit the orange zest if you prefer.
Add the flour mixture and stir to combine.
Turn out the dough on a floured surface and make into a disk. Wrap with a piece of plastic wrap and chill for 2 hrs or overnight. You can chill the dough up to 3 days.
When you are ready to bake, roll out the dough to 3/8-inch thickness and cut out with a cookie cutter. You will need to dust the surface with a little bit of flour so that the dough won’t stick. Gather up the remaining dough and roll out again to get more cookies.
Bake in the preheated 400ËšF oven for 6-8 minutes for soft and chewy cookies. If you prefer crispy cookies, bake longer (2-3 more minutes).
Lastly, decorate with a simple powdered sugar icing as you desire. These cookies last fresh in the cookie jar for 3 days. They freeze beautifully and you can store in the freezer up to 3 months. Make sure to store them in an airtight container.
More Christmas recipes
Here are a few of my favorite Christmas treat recipes.
- Traditional Finnish Cardamom Bread Recipe (Pulla)
- Rich Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix Recipe
- Soft Ginger Cookies With Orange Glaze
Swedish Gingerbread Cookies (Pepparkakor)
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1-1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cloves
- 1 tsp cardamom
- a pinch allspice
- a pinch salt
- 10 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 10 tbsp molasses
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1-1/2 tbsp orange zest, optional
Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- 2-3 tbsp milk
Equipment
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and all the spices; set aside.
- In an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter for 30 seconds, add the sugars and beat until fluffy. Add the molasses, whipping cream orange zest, if using, and mix well. Scrape the bottom of the mixer occassionally to mix thoroughly.
- Add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Turn out the dough on to a lightly floured surface. Form the dough into a disk and wrap with a piece of plastic wrap. Chill the dough about 2 hours or overnight. You can chill up to 3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 400ËšF. Line a baking pan with a parchment paper.
- Take out the dough from the fridge and hit with a rolling pin a few times to relax the dough. Roll out the dough into 3/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Dust with flour occasionally to prevent from sticking. Cut out with a cookie cutter and place on the baking pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 6-8 minutes for soft chewy cookies, or 8-10 minutes for crispier cookies.
- Let the cookies rest in the baking pan for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely. Decorate cookies with the icing.
- To make the icing; mix powdered sugar, corn syrup and 2 tbsp of milk. Add more milk if needed. You will want the icing to be slightly thicker consistency so that it doesn't run off from the cookies.
Loved this variation on the gingerbread recipe. I was looking for a pepparkrakor recipe after seeing a Swedish St. Lucy Day celebration on tv. The no egg in the recipe was perfect since I’m allergic to them. They turned out wonderfully and the cardamom and orange zest made them all the more delicious.
I ended up dividing the dough in half and making two disks. It made it a bit easier to handle when rolling out. I used my 75 year old gingerbread man cookie cutter handed down from my wife’s grandmother. Next year it’s moose cookies. Got to get that moose cutter.